Day 9 - Room for Waiting

Hope, though sometimes hard-won, is a…well, hopeful topic. In the end, I usually feel warm and fuzzy and optimistic after considering hope.

If hope is one side of a coin, waiting is the other. Hope is the shiny side. Waiting is the side that has solidified hand germs and pocket lint stuck to it. We want hope, but we DO NOT want to wait. Yet, the one makes the other necessary. For what is waiting without hope? And what is hope without having to wait?

Several days ago we considered the priest, Simeon, who was a man “waiting for the consolation of Israel” when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple for dedication as the law required. At that same time, this happened:

There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about [Jesus] to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38 (CSB)

This random old woman, Anna, makes her one and only appearance here in scripture. While her role in the story may seem like an odd addition, let’s consider one of the most important things about her. When she enters the story at the time of Jesus’ dedication in the temple, how do we find her?

One word: waiting.
We find Anna waiting.

Nothing is known of her family, how her husband died, if they had children, how long she had been ministering in the temple. The text makes it clear, though. She was old, and her continuous occupation was waiting on God day and night with fasting and prayers.

I wonder if Anna ever questioned why she got up every day and did what she did. Were there some days when she wondered about her own sanity, whether her prayers and fasting mattered, if God would fulfill his promises in her lifetime, or if her years would cease like the 10 generations of Israelites before her without a word from God to his people?

Maybe.

And yet, she waited in the temple— night and day— looking forward to the redemption of Israel. Because she had hope, she waited. Because she waited, she had hope.

Anna took God at his word, and demonstrated her faith by remaining in the place where she knew he would appear when He came. Waiting with confident expectation gave her eyes to see the obscure peasant parents enter the temple to offer the pauper’s redemption price for THE firstborn Son.

Other than Simeon, we don’t have another account of anyone else who noticed the Christ that day.

I can’t help but wonder if no one else saw Him because no one else was waiting for Him.

Advent is the season of waiting with hope. With our imaginations we place ourselves in the shoes of those who longed for the revealing of the Messiah. We imagine their hearts languishing for His consolation and the joy they experienced when their waiting finally paid off and He appeared.

Waiting for any other thing may disappoint you. Waiting for Jesus never will. When he comes, be found waiting.

Pray- Jesus, we want to be found waiting in confident expectation. Even if you delay, may we rise from our beds tomorrow reinvigorated to wait again, knowing that the waiting is worth it.

W