Lent 2016 Day 2 - Luke 2

 

Oh I do love babies - can't get my fill.  Jesus is born; shepherds are dazzled and amazed; Mary ponders much in her heart.  I would really like to ask Mary how she entertained all those visitors through the night. She did just travel a long distance, got registered, and looked unsuccessfully for lodging.  Surely she was beat, sweaty and stinky.  But I digress from the topic at hand.  I feel compelled to talk about the the meeting of Simeon at the temple. 

Luke 2: 28-35 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

Then the scripture goes on to say Joseph and Mary marveled at what he said.  They knew Jesus was special - they both got angel visit about this child.  But what is this - a man is ready to die just because he has seen God's promise.  What are they thinking right now?  The same theme from yesterday - PRAISE GOD.  I surely think He is telling me to praise Him more and more and more.  But this still isn't the part I want to dive into, this is just the setup. Simeon's next words to Mary : 

34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

What? What did you say?  Could you repeat that please?  What do you mean? Falling and rising? Spoken against? Hardship...are you telling me this baby boy just 8 days old is destined to hardship?  And then the killer - Mary you will experience unbelievable hurt like a sword piercing your soul.  What would I do if I were Mary at this moment.  With my boldness I would probably say hold on I need to sit down and we need to talk.  I need to understand everything, each detail, when this is going to happen and how it is going to happen.  Talk to me Simeon what do you know.

Trust - this is all about whats going to happen but the underlying Mary moment is trust.  Is Mary going to trust God?  Well of course she is.  He has proven faithful to her thus far why wouldn't she.  So why in the world do we struggle with this trust thing?  You thought I wasn't going to apply this to us :).  Hasn't God shown himself faithful in our lives yet we come to a hick-up in the road and we immediately start to get into solve mode.  For example when Griffin was an infant I discovered his skull was shaped funny.  We went to the doctor who was like yeah that isn't right - I'm sending you to Birmingham to a specialist.  What? Oh course you can't just get an appointment that day, we had to wait what seemed forever.  Overdrive solve mode kicked in - I searched the internet, and I searched.  I had him getting chemotherapy and possibly dying.  The morning of the appointment I went running with my neighbor and we were actually praying (what a concept), and we turned the corner and a rainbow appeared in the sky from end to end.  A peace that I can't explain immediately passed through me.  Oh Lord why didn't I trust you long ago?! 

Our God is faithful!  Our God is loving! Our God is forgiving!  Our God is worthy to be trusted!  And best of all we belong to Him.  Hear that again - we belong to Him.