I love the story of Simeon. He was a faithful follower of the Lord, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit was on him. This is significant because before Jesus came, the third person of the Trinity primarily visited people on certain occasions, not on an everyday basis. However, it’s clear that Simeon loved the Lord more than anything, and because he set his mind on things above, the Spirit spoke to him regularly. In fact, since he dwelled so closely with God, he clearly heard Him say that he would see the Messiah with his own eyes before he died. How elated he must have been upon receiving this news, but how long the wait must have grown. More than a matter of a few months, it was probably 50 or 60 years before the Lord whispered to the aged man’s heart that his King had arrived. Though he was old by the time the promise was fulfilled, he still managed to make his way to the temple to find his long-awaited Savior. While I can’t imagine the joy that flooded his soul when he finally saw Jesus, I wonder how many times he was tempted to give up on the promise as the years went by. With no evidence of change, the enemy must have beckoned him to surrender his faith on multiple occasions. Nevertheless, he stayed close to God and kept hope alive in his heart so that when the moment of revelation ultimately happened, it was even sweeter and more sacred than it might have been if it had come sooner.

My friend, there’s a sacredness in patiently waiting. If God has made you a promise, the devil will stop at nothing to convince you that it’s not going to happen, but you must keep believing. Your Savior is faithful to His covenants, and He has not forgotten the things He has spoken to you. His good plans for you will prevail, and when they do, His glory will shine more brightly through your life than you can even fathom. No matter how much sameness you see right now, He is working in and around you to orchestrate a powerful answer, and it will be revealed in His divinely perfect — yet humanly frustrating — time.