Waiting for the promises

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 upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 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. Luke 2: 25 – 28

There was also a prophetess, Anna …. She never left the temple but worshiped 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. Luke 2:  36 – 38.

Once again, we see the missed opportunity for so many people, when Jesus himself was brought to the temple. The religious leaders and priests who lived and worshipped there did not meet him but two elderly, righteous and devout people, who for a long time had been waiting for the Messiah, met their heart’s desire. 

It can be very trying to persevere, sometimes for years, to see what God has promised us but the story of Simeon and Anna encourages us not to give up.  We do not know how long Simeon had been hanging on in faith to see the Messiah but we do know his faith was rewarded.

Anna too had spent most of her adult life worshipping and praying in the temple and she too was not disappointed. She was an old lady, very old by those days, and yet she too got to see the Messiah.

For Jewish people there was no greater joy than to see the long awaited one. Simeon must have been thrilled to know he would see the Messiah and imagine his joy when he was able to take the baby in his arms and bless and prophesy over him and his parents. What a privilege. Anna too was able to pronounce to all who were willing to listen that this baby was indeed the Messiah.

We also may have been waiting for years for some promise from God; the salvation of a relative, our healing, our partner in life, a ministry opportunity and as this year closes may I suggest you go back and look at the words that God has given you in 2012 and maybe in previous years.

Thank him for those that have come to pass and pray over those you have still to see an answer to.  Like Simeon and Anna, some promises we have to wait a long time for but let us reaffirm our faith in God and our trust that He will work all things together for good in his timing. 

Bless you for reading this blog this year and let us go forward into 2013 with renewed enthusiasm for our wonderful God. I pray.. that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1: 10)

Growing to maturity

..until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13

Have you ever been with a baby who is yelling their head off trying to make you understand what they want?  You know exactly what they want and it may be what they need but at that particular moment you cannot, for very good reasons, give them what they are demanding. Today we were driving home with our granddaughter and she was hungry but we couldn’t stop; she would just have to wait till we got home. She couldn’t understand that and you could see in her eyes that she did not know why we were not responding to her very obvious demands. 

Sometimes we can be like this with God and we go on and on at him and he knows exactly what we want or even need but for very good reasons we cannot have it. I remember the story of a church in USA which was desperate to put an illuminated big red cross on the top of their church. They felt this was a great witness to the Lord in their area and they prayed and raised money and eventually after great difficulty they were able to put up their illuminated red cross. They felt they had overcome all difficulties and been victorious. The next day the local airport contacted them and demanded the cross be removed immediately as it was a serious hazard to aircraft taking off and landing at the airport. Sometimes there are very good reasons why we do not get what we want.

There are times for overcoming but there are also times when we need to stop and ask God if there is a reason why we are not getting what we want or even need. It takes maturity to wait or even to realise that not getting something can be better for us in the long term.  God is not playing games with us. He will tell us if we will not be getting what we are asking for or have to wait for it. His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:9). It all comes back to trusting God that he wants to give us good things but like all good parents his idea of good and ours may not be the same and his timing and ours may very often be different.

Today if you are waiting for something, stop going on and on at God. He knows. Instead start thanking him that he will provide everything you need and a lot of what you want but in his timing. You can trust him. His way really is perfect