In the beginning of the gospel of Luke we read the account of the angel coming to the priest Zechariah as he is serving in the temple. The angel tells him that his wife Elizabeth will become pregnant. Zech is pretty taken aback by this news.

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

I don’t know about you but this seems like a reasonable question to me, he’s an old man and so is his wife. However the angels response suggests that it wasn’t.

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” Luke 1:18-20

You could read a passage like this and conclude that it is always wrong to ask questions when God has spoken a seemingly impossible promise over your life.

Once again, it’s not as clear as that because there are lots of other places in scripture where God speaks and people ask questions. Take the time where God instructs Abram that he should leave his home and go to a new land that God would show him. Genesis 15:8 shows Abrams response.

But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” Genesis 15:8

After this Abram isn’t struck dumb for 9 months or even a day. Instead God forms a covenant with him and he goes onto to be the father of many nations. Why does he not get penalised for this one?

What about Mary, the mother of Jesus? She is visited in a similar way that Zechariah was, and is told something pretty similar, that she will become a mum even though she has never slept with a man. This is what Mary asks the angel.

How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:34

The angel explains how it will all happen and that no word that God speaks will fail and Mary responds.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38 (NIV)

There are other examples in Scripture as well of people who questioned and didn’t receive punishment, here are a couple more examples.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11 (NIV)

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ” Judges 6:15 (NIV)

So…..if that was the case what was wrong with Zechariah’s question? Was it that much different than these others?

I guess we can’t be completely sure but perhaps there was something in his heart and his tone that wasn’t present in the others questions? There are a few ways that those questions can be asked and we can only presume that Zech didn’t answer it a way that was humble but instead was arrogant, dismissive and/or in defiance of the angel?

Whilst we can’t be sure of that what we can be sure of is that God can handle our questions but we must approach Him filled with humility in knowing that He knows better than us and faith that He can do anything that He choses.