Simeon's Lesson

Is it just me, or do some seasons seem harder than others? I can't help but notice, especially as I get older, that the frequency with which these harder seasons appear and the stubborn persistence with which they hang on seems to be ever on the rise. I find at work here some fundamental principle of the cosmos that I can't quite put my finger on. My wife says I'm just getting old and cranky, but I like to think there's more to it than that...at least that's my hope.

Even now as I glance out my study window at the lush tropical chaos which used to be my lawn and try to calculate when I might get a chance to hack it once again back into submission, I am tempted to despair. Tax deadlines, school work, Passion Week, Pear Blossom, ministry needs, family, friends and the ever lurking flu bug. "Don't grow weary in doing good?" What was Paul thinking? It was easy for him...he didn't have to keep up with Facebook!

Then, as I thumb back through my mental catalog of "Bible Heroes at their Whiny Worst", I remember Elijah beneath the Juniper tree, Jonah pouting over Nineveh, Peter gone back to fishing and am comforted that I'm not alone in my sniveling self-pity. But God's mercy towards his cranky child is ever sweet and before too long I can feel the Spirit's gentle pull drawing my mind towards the memory of faithful Simeon (Luke 2).

Witness to a lifetime of poverty, pestilence, oppression and hypocrisy, this righteous old servant of God awaits only the glimpse of his promised Messiah before he may lay down the burden of a disciple's long walk through a broken world. What joy must have been his in that moment of recognition..."ahhhhh...it's Him. He's here. Now I can go home and rest". Like the honorable and long-awaited relief of a bone-tired soldier. What a reunion that must have been!

The ability to "gird one's loins" and drive on is much more than an act of will power; it is an act of the will which displays belief in the promises of God. Through the offering up of our fatigue and discouragement, it actually becomes an act of worship. It is precisely this act of faithful devotion the Lord seeks when He tells us "Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow Me" (Mark 8:34).

A wise man once told me that there's no way to avoid growing weary in this hard and fallen life, so we might as well grow weary doing good. I'm certain that Simeon understood that well. It is a wholly holy understanding that puts things back into their proper perspective. Wonderful old Simeon never fails to remind us that God is just around the corner and our lives, hidden in Jesus, are safe forever...no matter how weary we may grow along the way. 

Keep on keepin' on dear Christ follower...this ends well.

Pastor Matt