Day 24 Advent Devotional | December 27th
Luke 2:29-32
Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel.”
The story of Simeon is an oft forgotten part of the Christmas story. The bible tells us he was righteous and devout. We learn that he was anxiously awaiting the messiah’s coming and the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he saw the messiah. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to follow the Jewish law for newborns, Simeon’s moment had come. His song of praise is our focus verse today.
What we see in Simeon’s song is that God always operates according to His word. Simeon could see the Christ child for who He was because He was promised to do so and he was anxiously awaiting, actively looking for God to be true to His word. The Messiah wasn’t going to sneak by Simeon. He wasn’t going to miss Jesus because he was looking the other way. He was only looking for God to be true to His word. Simeon couldn’t imagine anything other than that.
Oh, to be like Simeon! We are tempted to look to other things for our peace and rest in this life. We are tempted to doubt God would be true to His word to us. But these temptations are nothing more than lies of the enemy. God will never depart from His word. Every promise He makes is trustworthy. As we are coming to the end of this holiday season, let us endeavor to look only for God to be true to His word, to expect it in our lives. No matter what we are going through, God will be true, He cannot be other. He desires true life for us and His word is life and light to us.
Prayer: Lord, save us from our doubts and fears that you could ever be less than all good to us. Jesus’ coming into the world proves that your love toward us is without limit. Help us to trust you in the small things that often cloud our judgement and remind us that You are always true to Your word. Order our steps by Your words we pray.