At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. … Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly. Luke 2:25-27, 36-38 NLT
The first mention that a Savior, the Messiah, would be born to rescue the people of God who had been fooled and entrapped by sin occurs in the first chapters of Genesis, the account of God’s redemption and salvation story. Scholars tell us that approximate 4,000 years later God fulfilled that promise when the first cries of a newborn baby were heard in a Bethlehem stable. 4,000 years? Really?
Think of it. For 4,000 years faithful Jewish people, God’s chosen ones to deliver the Savior to the world, had been waiting. They had been instructing their children, “The Savior is coming to save us!” Their children taught their children, and on and on. But along the way, many only technically believed it. In every practical way they gave up hope. If God was going to keep His promise, where is He? They began living life in their own way, choosing their own ways and human rulers, doing just what seemed right in their own eyes. God seemed increasingly distant.
But throughout history, God has always had people who believed. People who never lost faith in Him, no matter how long they waited. They believed He would come through in the daily matters and in the monumental Messiah promise as well. Simeon and Anna were two of those people. They had been faithfully believing, serving, and obeying. They were in the temple daily – Anna even lived there. As aged as they were, they believed that God’s clock keeps perfect time, and even though He seemed to be slow, He would send Jesus at the exact moment that was right. And they lived to see it.
Throughout history dissatisfaction with God’s timing has been a major reason humans become distant from God. We think His clock is running too slowly or has stopped, and we must handle things ourselves. We lose our opportunity for intimacy with God and for the joy of fulfillment.
- When God seems slow, draw close. Meditate on His faithfulness in the past. He has never been late. He will not start with you.