Our Constant Star: Day 12

Read & Journal

Read Luke 2:25-38. Spend some time meditating on what you’ve read:

• What does this passage teach you about Jesus?

• If you had to write Simeon’s basic message in your own words, what would you say? Write it in your journal.

• This week, we’ve been studying about the incarnation. What does this passage reveal about why Jesus came and what his life would accomplish?

• The Jews believed the Messiah would be a political hero who would rescue the Jewish people from oppression. Now, read verses 29-32 again. How does Simeon’s blessing contrast with what the Jews believed? Why is that important?

• Make a list of words that are used to describe Anna and her faithfulness to the Lord. Who has been this type of example in your own life? Journal a prayer, thanking God for this person’s impact on your life.

• Anna had been looking for God’s redemption, and when she saw Jesus, she made sure other people knew about it. Who in your life needs to know Jesus? How can you faithfully make Jesus known in that person’s life today?

Ponder

Today, as year by year its light

Brings to our world a promise bright

Every Wednesday night when I climbed the stairs in the small rural church where I grew up, Miss Amanda was already in the small upstairs classroom. She didn’t have to be. She was already a grandmother by that time, and she could have easily decided she was too tired or too old to spend time leading a girls’ Bible class, but she didn’t.

Sometimes, I was her only student. But she always came prepared and ready. We laughed and talked, made crafts, memorized Scripture and prayed for missionaries we’d never met. And some 30 years later, I’m still marked by the faithful example of Miss Amanda, who chose again and again to pour into a little girl and show her what it means to follow Jesus.

Simeon and Anna’s stories comprise just 13 verses of the New Testament, but they’re among my favorite verses in Scripture. And it’s not just because my mental picture of Anna looks a tiny bit like Miss Amanda. It’s because of the beauty and simplicity of their faith.

Both Simeon and Anna took God at his word. He had promised the Messiah—“Israel’s consolation” as the Christian Standard Bible puts it—and they both believed that God would bring that promise to fruition. More than that, they got up every morning expecting it to happen.

Their faith wasn’t just a mental assertion, a simple “Yeah, I think God can do what he says.” It was a powerful faith that ordered and structured their lives and called them to live in anticipation. Their faith wasn’t passive, but active and vibrant. Each day, they chose to believe God, and trust his plan. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus into the temple eight days after his birth, they rejoiced to see God’s plan of redemption in the flesh.

Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles,” Simeon said, meaning God’s salvation was for all people, not just the Jews. Recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, Anna praised God for his faithfulness and immediately began telling others about her Redeemer.

Simeon and Anna never lost hope in seeing God’s promised Messiah, even when it would have been easier to give up, go home, say they were too tired or too old. When it seemed like maybe all hope was lost, that God wasn’t going to deliver on his promise, they remained faithful.

Today, you may be doubting that God is faithful to keep his promises. But I pray that the faithful examples of Simeon, Anna—and, yes Miss Amanda—encourage your faith. He who has promised is faithful, and what God says, he does.