At the end of the year it can be easy to start focusing on the year to come. 2019 is only a few days away, after all, and it seems wise to start planning and thinking about what is to come.
Especially, if you are in a time of waiting. It can be easier to forget about the year that has passed in pain and waiting, and instead focus on believing and hoping again for the year ahead.
Yet this hope and belief is grounded in a knowledge of the one who holds your hopes and dreams, ‘in the waiting’. And it is good to remind yourself of the faithfulness of the one who holds you.
The bible is full of promises given and fulfilled. But it is also full of people who had to wait on their promises, people like Abraham and Moses, Joseph and Mary.
One of my favourites is the story of Simeon which is told in Luke, chapter two. Simeon had been promised “that he would see the Messiah of God before he died.” I don’t know Simeon’s story, whether he was very old, or rather suffering from a long illness. But either way it seems he knew his death was imminent.
We do know, however, that he was “a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel.”
Prayerful expectancy.
Wow, what a way to live! Simeon lived both acknowledging the past and the future. He prayed to the one who hold held all things, the one he had seen as faithful. Yet still he believed in expectant hope for his future.
The words of the Bethel song that inspired this series say, ““Do not forget his great faithfulness, he’ll finish all he’s begun.” As we focus on the beautiful gift of Jesus that we celebrate in just a few days time, I ask you to remember.
Think back over this year and remember where he has been faithful. Think back over this month and remember where he has been faithful. Think back over this week and remember where he has been faithful.
Today instead of a prayer, I leave you with a passage from the prophet Isaiah; who was well acquainted with waiting for he foretold the coming of the Messiah, hundreds of years before it came to pass. As you read this may you recall all the times God has been faithful.
I pray that as your read the words below, you like Simeon, will live in prayerful expectancy in your waiting.
Remember your history,
Isaiah 46:9-10 (MSG)
your long and rich history.
I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have—
incomparable, irreplaceable—
From the very beginning
telling you what the ending will be,
All along letting you in
on what is going to happen,
Assuring you, ‘I’m in this for the long haul,
I’ll do exactly what I set out to do,’
Merry Christmas, and may you know the peace this season brings,