Father, I bow my head before You in gratitude for who You are to me. I don’t deserve the blessings that You allow to be poured upon me. I have done nothing to earn them. I continue to give myself over to You for there is no other choice. Praise and honor to Your Holy Name!
Luke 2:25-35 (<<click to read the passage)
I’ve watched more of them in the past, but I enjoy watching crime dramas. When Massey first went to college, we DVR’d so many shows that we enjoyed watching together. Then neither of us would watch them but would wait and binge-watch 3, 4, or 5 of them in a row (skipping all the commercials) and staying up until the wee hours of the morning do to so. I still had to go to work, but it was well worth the trade-off just spending the time together.
If Luke had not have been a doctor, he would have made a great detective! It had to have taken hours of intense research and digging (and of course the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit!) for him to find all he found in regard to Jesus’ early years of life.
I love the story of Simeon! Here is a man who “was righteous and devout [carefully observing the divine Law], and looking for the Consolation of Israel” v25 (AMP)
…OK…right there I have to stop… already I can see that this passage is not going to get covered in one sitting!
Reading that phrase, “looking for the Consolation of Israel” brings tears to my eyes.
When I typed in the word “consolation” this is the definition Google gave me, “a person or thing providing comfort to a person who has suffered.” Similar words are comfort, solace, sympathy, compassion, pity.
In this context, the word “consolation” is used as a Messianic title.
Against popular belief, the Messiah wasn’t just a power-player come to boot out the oppressive Romans. The Messiah’s impact was to be much, much more than that.
The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had this to say about the Messiah to come
He says, “It is too trivial a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will also make You a light to the nations
That My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6 (AMP)
To “raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel” (which was huge) was “too trivial a thing”! God’s plan included that, but it was a much grander plan and entailed bringing salvation to the ends of the earth!
And we, me and each and every one of us, were a part of God’s plan from the very beginning! Here comes my favorite verse again!
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)
We are all so, so much more than useless! Read Ephesians 1:4 again!
That “us” is you! That “us” is me! That “us” is everyone! No one is excluded!
What more needs to be said today? Rejoice!
Nov 3rd, 2019, Sun, 5:28 pm
