One of the things I love about studying the Bible is all the new things discovered through each journey. There are so many prominent characters who get a great deal of attention. What about all the minor characters in the Bible? They may not have played major roles but they certainly played a part in God's plans.
I came across one such character today. A guy named Simeon. He is described as a just, devout man with the Holy Spirit upon him. In fact, in the few verses that reference him in Luke 2:25-32 the Holy Spirit is mentioned several times in connection with him.
The Holy Spirit revealed something to Simeon. That means the Spirit uncovered and disclosed a truth to Simeon. He would not die until he saw the Messiah with his physical eyes. So Simeon waited. He prayed and waited. He worshiped and waited. We do not know exactly how long he waited. The word waited means "to look for, to expect."
I know there are many of you waiting. Waiting for God to do something. Waiting for His promise to be fulfilled. Israel waited on the Messiah for centuries. Simeon may have waited decades. As a rule most do not like waiting periods. We don't like sitting in waiting rooms. We don't like waiting in lines. We don't like waiting on signal lights or slow traffic. We don't like waiting on God. He forces us to wait on Him often. He has a plan and time schedule. Often it is much different than our own.
One day while Simeon waited he received a prompting from the Holy Spirit. I am not sure what form that prompting took. What I do know is the prompting stirred him to go to the temple. I am sure he had been to the temple hundreds and hundreds of times. On many of those occasions I suspect everything went business as usual. Nothing exciting. Nothing out of the ordinary. Not this day. God had something totally different in mind.
On that day, at that hour, in that very moment some parents walked into the temple bringing their first born child. Not just any child. They brought Jesus. The long awaited Messiah entered the temple for the first time. Somehow Simeon knew Jesus was Messiah. In what must have been a bewildering scene for Joseph and Mary, Simeon grabbed up Jesus in His arms and prayed. He blessed Joesph and Mary and prophesied to Mary. Jesus's parents were amazed at all of this.
I love a part of Simeon's prayer.
Luke 2:29-30 (NKJV)
29 "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation.
What Simeon waited for, looked for and so long expected finally came. He thanked God for keeping His word. Simeon did indeed see the Messiah with his own eyes. I am sure many doubted him before this day and many after this day as well. Most of the people that day missed it.No, they missed Him. They missed Messiah. In fact, many Jews missed the coming of Messiah for 33 years. They never recognized Jesus as the "Anointed One." No matter how many miracles He did many Jews rejected Him. Some still do.
Not Simeon. He heard a clear word through the Holy Spirit. He waited in faith. He received a clear prompting to go to the temple on a certain day at a certain time. A divine appointment followed.
A couple of things jump out to me from this story. First, we need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit to communicate with us. Yahweh communicated through the Holy Spirit. He gave Simeon a promise. What if Simeon had not received the prompting, or had ignored the prompting, to go to the temple? What if he resisted or rationalized it away? What if he dismissed it? He would've missed what he had been waiting for so long. Don't let that happen to you. Follow His promptings. Obey His leadings. You never know when He will give what you have so long waited for. Stay in tune with the Spirit of God.
I also am encouraged that God's waiting periods do not last forever. There is a scheduled moment when He fulfills the promise, brings breakthrough, opens the door, overcomes the obstacle and moves the mountain. Let that encourage us to wait in faith. To keep expecting for God to show up and keep expecting Him to work powerfully any day. So, keep looking for Him and expecting Him to work in your situation.
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