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The list of God’s heroes who learned to wait and the consequences of the times they didn’t goes on and on. Joshua, mighty warrior of the conquest of the Promised Land, fell on his face before the captain of the host of the Lord. David, the great action figure of the nation of Israel, left possibly the greatest single body of meditative literature ever compiled (Psalms).
So why with all these heroes from whom to choose did I settle on Simeon and Anna for our scripture this morning? They are heroes more like most of us. They waited an entire lifetime to have an encounter with God worth recording.
Though we normally think of the Holy Spirit as a New-Testament, after-Pentecost thing, Simeon clearly heard from God and “So he came by the Spirit into the temple.” Anna waited for the coming of the Lord in the Temple for what had to be over sixty years.
So what is, as promised, the benefit of waiting upon the Lord? First, we don’t have to waste our energy on our own half-baked ideas. We don’t have to use our energy at all. Second, God from time to time lets us in on His plans. We get to look behind the curtain. We don’t have to worry. We do, but we don’t have to. Third, we get the thrill of being in the right place at the right time, to be active participants in what God is doing. Fourth, but certainly not finally, we have our faith and trust built as He uses us.
The waiting life is not a life of inaction. It is a life of directed action. When we wait, when we become attuned to the expressions of His face, the tones of His voice, the gestures of His hand, we glide through life doing His will, almost effortlessly. At least twice this week I have simply followed His subtle promptings and made God connections with people who needed Him. It was a rush. A quiet rush, mind you, but a rush nonetheless. So take the advice of the psalmist:
Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes,
O Thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,
and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress;
so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,
until that He have mercy upon us. (Psalm 123:1-2 KJV)
Let me take you back to a musical meditation we visited recently. Enjoy it as you wait.
So why with all these heroes from whom to choose did I settle on Simeon and Anna for our scripture this morning? They are heroes more like most of us. They waited an entire lifetime to have an encounter with God worth recording.
Though we normally think of the Holy Spirit as a New-Testament, after-Pentecost thing, Simeon clearly heard from God and “So he came by the Spirit into the temple.” Anna waited for the coming of the Lord in the Temple for what had to be over sixty years.
So what is, as promised, the benefit of waiting upon the Lord? First, we don’t have to waste our energy on our own half-baked ideas. We don’t have to use our energy at all. Second, God from time to time lets us in on His plans. We get to look behind the curtain. We don’t have to worry. We do, but we don’t have to. Third, we get the thrill of being in the right place at the right time, to be active participants in what God is doing. Fourth, but certainly not finally, we have our faith and trust built as He uses us.
The waiting life is not a life of inaction. It is a life of directed action. When we wait, when we become attuned to the expressions of His face, the tones of His voice, the gestures of His hand, we glide through life doing His will, almost effortlessly. At least twice this week I have simply followed His subtle promptings and made God connections with people who needed Him. It was a rush. A quiet rush, mind you, but a rush nonetheless. So take the advice of the psalmist:
Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes,
O Thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,
and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress;
so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,
until that He have mercy upon us. (Psalm 123:1-2 KJV)
Let me take you back to a musical meditation we visited recently. Enjoy it as you wait.