Keep On Waiting

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. (Luke 2:25-26)

Few things are more frustrating in life than waiting.  For the impatient-at-heart, waiting can literally be torture. When you are a child you have to wait 12 years to graduate from high school and hopefully leave your parent’s house. When you are applying to college, you have to wait for the acceptance letter to find out whether you have been admitted. When you meet someone special with whom you see a future, you have to wait for the relationship to develop and mature before you can move through its various phases. When you are expecting a newborn child, you have to wait 9 months, oftentimes through pain and discomfort until the baby finally arrives.  

My point is that life is filled with waiting. And when we have to wait, discouragement sets in because the passage of time can bring us down; it can cause us to lose sight of our goals, our dreams, and even our aspirations.

The Gospel of Luke introduces us to an elderly man by the name of Simeon who waited his entire life to see the Messiah, the one who would save and lead the people of God and establish a new kingdom. According to the text, Simeon is told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he sees the new king. So when the infant child—Jesus—was brought into the temple by his parents to be consecrated before the Lord, Simeon was there; and because he was there, he bore witness and recognized Jesus as the Promised One he had been looking for.  

As difficult as it must have been waiting month after month, year after year, decade after decade, Simeon doesn’t grow weary while waiting. He doesn’t give up on God. He doesn’t throw in the towel. He isn’t at the bar drowning his misery in the bottom of a bottle. He’s in the house of God worshipping and waiting on God to do what he said he would do. And it’s that model of persevering faith that is an example for all of us, whether we are waiting for our change to come, waiting for a new day, or waiting for things to turn around.  

Whatever you’re waiting on today, my prayer is that you would follow Simeon’s example. That you wouldn’t give up. You wouldn’t surrender your will to wait. But instead, you would keep worshipping and keep drawing near to your heavenly Father as you wait for Him to come through for you.