Simeon

“There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.” Luke 2:25-26.

Have you ever gotten a special word from the Lord? You know that it is true, even though you have no idea how it will come to pass. I wonder what Simeon thought about his revelation from God. I don’t think we can say for sure that he knew Jesus would be a baby. From what I have read and understand no one knew the full reality of Jesus being God’s Son until He died and rose again. Even then, until you embrace Him as your Savior this is a hidden reality. I don’t know what Simeon was expecting, but I doubt He was expecting a baby.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

This is one of my absolute favorite promises. It has encouraged me in some of my hardest times. Sunday a guest speaker (Rick Cohen) pointed out that these words mean beyond measure. And as humans, we cannot measure what God does by our standards. He said, “If something is measurable then it is not eternal.” I believe God blesses us in ways that are measurable, that He does amazing things we can see… but it may not be the “exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think.” Do we really want a God we can measure?

Simeon may not have been looking for a baby, but when he saw Jesus, he knew He was the Savior. He was so moved he said, "Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace." Luke 2:29. Jesus being born is an example of “exceedingly abundantly more.” How can we fathom it, measure it? I have been taught this story for all of my life; we’re even given great details on how it all came about. But when I think of it I cannot help but be blown away every time. At the outset I cannot get over that God came in flesh. He submitted to life as a man. Not a man in our pristine Western culture that could have given more comfort. God entrusted Himself to a feeding trough and a poor teenage mother. Such meagerness, but so much power, that Satan could not change a second of God’s plan for Jesus on earth.

We see, two thousand years later, that power has swept the earth. I am amazed at the work of God in my own life and multiply that by millions of people and thousands of years. And it all careens backwards in time to one little baby born in a throwaway town in one of the smallest countries on earth. Yet, at the outset, unless you had the insight of God, like Simeon, Jesus was just a baby born in a questionable situation.

What of your situation? Do you want to hear from God? “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3. If you really do seek, He really will show you great things. And what if He has shown you things, but you don’t get it, or you can’t see it? Then He is working out something eternal, something that is beyond what we can measure. Our situation may look bleak, we may feel ineffective, and boxed in. I wonder if Mary thought, “How can this baby be salvation, a light to the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel? There’s no way it can happen!” She could not have imagined who Jesus really was, what He would accomplish. And guess what, we cannot imagine what God will do with our lives either.

Rick Cohen also said, “Our expectations of God are too low.” This Christmas give Jesus the gift of trusting Him for more. Believe that your obedience, your life lived for Him, while it may look at the outset like nothing, is working for “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Corinthians 4:17.

Purposeful Reproach

I am hoping to write about Christmas this month. I never know what the Lord will lead me to write, but I have gleaned so much from reading Luke 1 and 2 I hope to do a few more posts on the topic. Whenever I desire to delve deeper into the story of Christ’s birth I am always in awe of what I find. It’s so deep, so rich. I encourage you to delve in too. I also want to recommend Todd Agnew’s “Do You See What I See?” album. He spent a year studying the accounts of the birth of Christ before writing the album. The songs are insightful and worshipful. I LOVE it. Get it.

I thought I would write about Mary first, but I could not get past Zacharias and Elizabeth. Zacharias and Elizabeth are given highest praise in Luke 1:6, “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” I would love to have this testimony! And you would think, to have this testimony, everything went well for them, but as you know it hadn’t. They did not have a child and they were past the time for that. Still, they were faithful. They did not blame God and did not strive. They just lived seemingly ordinary lives for God.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were past hope for a child. I can imagine part of Zacharias’ unbelief was that he had tabled that prayer. Maybe God had even spoken to them that they would have a child. But time had passed and they decided they must have heard wrong. Yes, they had heard wrong, but they would still remain true to their God.

But then Zacharias heard the angel’s words, “Your prayer has been heard! You and Elizabeth will have a son!” I love how the angel responds to his disbelief. “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God (if it were me I would have repeated that part – the presence of God – in a stern mommy voice), and was sent to you and bring you these glad tidings.” Gabriel cannot believe his unbelief. Gabriel’s reality, which should also be ours, is that you should just believe what God’s messenger tells you. Take note of that, because if Gabriel ever visits you, you will want to believe what he says.

Elizabeth conceived, just like Gabriel said, and for five months she hid herself, and said, “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, to take away my reproach among people.” Can you imagine Elizabeth’s joy? God did not forget her; He was as good, and better, than she ever dreamed Him to be. In addition to her new realization of God she was having a longed for son. He had taken away her reproach. Reproach? Back up, didn’t God describe them as “righteous before God, in all His ways blameless?” How could they have reproach among the people?

Purposeful reproach. These are the words that came to me as I thought on this. Zacharias and Elizabeth were completely in line with God’s will, they were faithful. Yet they had an unanswered prayer. They had no child, and that caused them, I am sure, gut wrenching anguish. Add to that the reproach of the people. Zacharias and Elizabeth were left out of the play dates and she got tired of going to the baby showers. People maybe secretly or openly (it was a more common thought back then) thought their childlessness was a punishment from God. Their close friends, without even knowing it, were less and less a part of their lives.

There is a balm for those with reproaches in our lives. It is Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Our God is an ever present comfort, His love will quiet those hurts that continue until He takes them away. Because I believe that the end for us is not sorrow, I believe that those prayers, though they tarry in being answered, will be answered. For Elizabeth, God did “exceedingly, abundantly, more than she could ask or think.” There will come a time when God will work in that situation because in Zephaniah 3:18-19 He says, “I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, who are among you to whom its reproach is a burden. Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, and gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame.”

Gabriel said his words would be fulfilled in “their own time,” much like it says above, “at that time.” We don’t get the day, but we must believe the promise that God will take away our reproach. Gabriel told Zacharias that many would rejoice at his (John’s) birth, and when he was born Luke 1:65 says that all who heard the words of the birth of John “kept them in their hearts, saying, ‘What kind of child will this be?’” I believe that the deeper the hurt, the stronger the reproach, the deeper the blessing God will give when He takes the reproach away. There is a purpose to the reproach. We cannot see it, and at times it makes us sick with anguish. But I know, because God is good and faithful , and oh so loving, that it will work out for good, and like Elizabeth we will be appointed for fame in every land where we were put to shame.