I am so glad you are back to visit with Simeon once again as we wait with him in the quietness that has been ordained by God. If you missed the first part of this post, please go here and read it first.
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Simeon was also a seeker. In that same sentence, we are told that he was ‘eagerly waiting’ for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Greek word used for ‘eagerly waiting’ is prosdechomai and it means to receive one, to accept, to expect. This word tells us that Simeon was expectantly waiting. But look at what Simeon was waiting upon. He was waiting for the Messiah to come be a deliverer, a conqueror for the Jewish people. Simeon, like most all Jews of that day, hoped for a ruling, reigning Messiah who would come charging in on a white horse and set up an earthly kingdom.
Sometimes when God positions us in the middle of a quiet waiting period we may be waiting for one thing to happen and God is planning something very different, something better. Did the Holy Spirit ever enlighten Simeon that the Messiah, on whom he was waiting, would come the first time, not as a conquering King, but as a suffering servant? Only eternity will reveal the answer.
‘The Holy Spirit was upon him and he revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah’. In this sentence we find that God had granted Simeon the presence of the Holy Spirit for some period of time. In the day in which Simeon lived, the Holy Spirit did not indwell people permanently. He came and left as God appointed. The Holy Spirit had told Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. When did he tell him this? Was Simeon a young man when he was told this news? Was he middle aged? Was he older? How long had Simeon been waiting? How many days had he gone expectantly into the Temple to see if one of the children being dedicated was The One? For that matter, how many times on a trip to the local market or a stroll down the street had he looked around to see if anyone looked as though they could be The One? Did he even know for sure that he was looking for a baby?
Can you imagine the frustration of such a proclamation? Will I recognize Him when I see Him? When will it occur? As he aged every time Simeon became ill, don’t you think he might have thought, ‘Lord, you promised. Have you seen how old I am getting? Do you know how sick I am?’ How often was Simeon tempted to rationalize that he had simply ‘misunderstood’ the message of the Spirit? Or even worse, perhaps the enemy tried to convince him that he had missed the Messiah.
Have you been where Simeon was? I certainly have. Lord, you called me. Why this silence? Why the waiting? Did I misunderstand?
Finally, ‘that day the Spirit led him to the Temple’. What was different about that day? He had been to the Temple hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Did he realize that day was different or was he simply going about his day like any other day? I believe that God delights to work in the ordinary days of our lives. He steps quietly into the midst of the silence and says, “THIS is the day. You don’t know it yet, my precious one, but this is the day.” It was only as Simeon went in obedience, just as he had done hundreds of times before, that God stepped out of the shadows and pointed Simeon in the direction of a tiny, wriggling baby boy. Holy Spirit whispered in Simeon’s heart, “There is The Messiah!!”
As you and I abide in the quietness of God’s waiting room, we must wait expectantly. We must wait obediently. We must stay faithful to the last word we heard from God. When we do; when the fullness of time has come, He will step out of the shadows and shatter the quietness with His very presence. Only then will we understand that, despite the deafening silence, it was worth the wait!
