Jesus Revives Hope In Disappointed PeopleSample

Although Scripture does not mention Simeon’s occupation, it does tell us what kind of man he was. Simeon was righteous and devout. We know he was a watchman. Not in the military sense, not perched on the citadels of the Jerusalem walls, but watching from the window of his house, observing from the public courts of the temple, and paying attention to the revolving leadership. He was waiting for deliverance, watching for God’s comforter, and anticipating the day when God’s promise would come to fruition. 

Simeon was a man who hoped, but a hope deferred makes the heart sick, and there was much to be sick about as Simeon watched the political and religious landscape of Jerusalem unfold. 

So little in Jerusalem pointed to the nearness of the Comfort he hoped for. Their king was impulsive and indulgent. Their armies weak and always in need of funds and aid from Rome. Their place of worship was corrupted by greed where leadership positions were available for purchase and were kept based on one’s ability to placate a king and pander to Rome.

In spite of political, religious and cultural quagmire, Simeon hoped. No one would have blamed him if he hadn’t. But Simeon based his hope, not on what his eyes could see in his present situation but on God’s unbreakable promise and His undeniable past work. He was, as the apostle Paul says, “joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” 

Simeon’s confident expectation was based on the rock-solid foundation of God’s age-old promises. Those who saw them as empty words stumbled over the foundation rather than building on it. What God declared in the past He had certainly accomplished.

 

We are millennia away from Simeon’s culture and yet the similarities shock and encourage. We too are waiting, not for Christ’s first coming, but His second coming. We are waiting for answers to decades of prayer. We are counting on God’s promises given to us in Scripture. It seems He is long in coming. His answers appear to be delayed. But questions cannot extinguish the hope secured for us by God’s character, work, and reliability.

 

In keeping with His character--which loves to startle, surprise, and delight His children—we can hope with certainty that His presence in our lives and His promised eternal Kingdom will be immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, even if it’s not exactly what we expect.

RESPOND: What are some promises God has fulfilled in unexpected ways? How do those unexpected fulfillments affect your hope in Him?