Long Awaited Messiah
Luke 2: 25-27, 36-38 (NIV)
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God
There was also a prophet, Anna.... She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
We all have experiences of long and short waiting for things: the relatively short wait in a supermarket, a coffee shop, in traffic, in a hospital, and my least favourite...waiting for a delayed train. Or the long wait - for that injury to heal for that promotion, that new opportunity. There is something about waiting that is frustrating! We find ourselves in those times of waiting, starting to get annoyed, checking and rechecking websites, and watching out the window for the delivery van. We may become disillusioned if it's a long season of waiting for something important. Most of us are not good at waiting. And then, sometimes, what was an exciting hope becomes a disappointment.
Yesterday, we looked at the birth of Jesus as a profound and life-changing event, and today, we will see how that event impacted the lives of Simeon and Anna. Simeon and Anna had been waiting for a long time! Both were waiting for the long-awaited Messiah, which had not been an easy journey for their people, Israel, or for them personally. It seems, however, that these two beautiful people had learnt how to wait. We see from them both, that waiting for God is a process of patience and unwavering hope.
Simeon was full of the Holy Spirit and Anna was a woman of prayer and worship. Their lives would not have been without pain, but they had stayed faithful and when they encountered the One they had waited for, they praised God with overflowing hearts.
So how do we wait well...? We pray, worship, and ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us daily and for Jesus to meet us in our waiting. When we encounter Jesus afresh - we praise Him!
Prayer - Jesus, thank you that we cannot contain our praise when we encounter you! Please help us stay faithful today and be people of prayer and worship.