Have you ever heard prayed: “Lord, give me patience, and give it to me now.” Patience is not a virtue our society seems to favor. We live in a world of frozen dinners, instant coffee, powdered orange juice, instant cameras, Cliff notes, freeway express lanes, cell phones, pagers, and beepers. Our motto is: Give it to me quick or forget about it!

Few of us like to wait – it reminds us we are out of control. We do not like waiting in traffic, in line at the supermarket, at the airport, or when our computers do not work fast enough.

Dr. Larry Dossey, a Dallas internist, coined a term that describes this problem. People who hate to wait suffer from what he calls “Hurry Sickness,” which he defines as “an increased sensitivity to the passage of time.”

The old saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.” If I am honest there are times in my life when things have gone south that I ask when will those good things start? For those who are feeling this way I have a story for you. It is about two people, Simeon and Anna, who are both examples of faithful waiting. The coming of Christ involved all manner of waiting on God. A young maiden, a dying man and an old widow, all model hearts yielded to God.

The tale of Simeon and Anna is a tale of grace. Anna’s name means “grace,” an early reminder by Luke that his gospel is a story of God’s free gift of self to us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That is why the aged Simeon, over an extended period of waiting, was able to recognize God’s salvation in Jesus.

Simeon and Anna waited for years for the coming Messiah. In Simeon’s case, the center of his joy was the privilege of being God’s servant, and in return God let him see the salvation of the world as it dawned. Simeon saw the baby Jesus as the fulfillment of all the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people throughout the years. In the Old Testament, God promised Moses that a prophet would come who would be unlike any other prophet.

God promised David a son who would reign forever. God told Isaiah that a son would be born of a virgin, and He would be called Emmanuel - - God with us. The Prophet Micah predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Anna was an eighty-year-old widow who stayed close to the temple and served God through fasting and praying. In return, God blessed her by allowing her to see the Savior of the world as a tiny, newborn baby. God fulfilled the promises he made to Simeon that he would not die before he saw the Messiah. When God fulfilled that promise, Simeon uttered the words in Luke 2:29-33, “O Lord, now you can let your servant depart in peace. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which hath been since the world began”.

Simeon and Anna are symbolic and representative figures. The world has never been without people like them: people with a forward look in whom there burned a great hope, people on tiptoe, the flame of freedom in their souls, the light of knowledge in their eyes, living in hope and expectation that a great day was coming when wrong would be righted, when justice would finally be done, when God would reveal His arm and bring salvation to humanity.

One night over two thousand years ago, the Word became flesh in a baby born in Bethlehem. One day, it will become flesh again when Christ returns to set up His kingdom here on earth. Simeon also told Mary of the suffering and death Jesus would have to endure for all His people. Most people thought of the redemption of Jerusalem and God’s people in terms of freedom from Roman rule, but some had a vision of an even greater redemption- - a vision of spiritual renewal. God’s salvation is for all of us, but not all of us will accept it, just like some people did not accept Christ and His teachings and salvation. Those who reject Christ are already condemned. God’s salvation doesn’t mean that we will never suffer troubles, illness, rejection, or death. It happened to Jesus. It happened to Mary. It will happen to us, but if we endure hardships with faith, we will have a great future. It takes faith to know a blessing from God. It is the joy of celebrating God’s goodness amid our chaotic, suffering world.

How can we live life to where we finish our time here on earth with no regrets? How do we hear those words “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Simeon and Anna tell us that we are never too old, weak, or sick to make a difference in this world. Our attitude and behavior will determine that. Like Anna, God will guide us to share the story of Jesus with everyone we meet.

We have also been told of the coming Christ. Like Simeon and Anna, we are heirs of a promise. We long to see the same face. To do so successfully, we must wait, patiently, and vigilantly. When we look at Jesus’ face, we will know that it is time for us to repent and come home to our heavenly Father, just like Simeon knew it was time for him to go to his heavenly home when he saw the face of the baby Jesus.

Waiting is not easy, but God is working in through us while we wait. We are in Advent right now, a reminder that we are still waiting with expectation for the coming of Jesus. And during these seasons we, like Simeon and Anna, must wait even when we do not like it. And it can be draining and exhausting and overwhelming. Remember that God is working on you during the wait, in ways that you cannot see. Let God transform you and I and use that time for His glory, not dreading it but rather surrender yourself to His good will. We never know where God will be leading us.

Until next week when we meet at the P.E.W.
Pastor Joel