Luke 2.37 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of
eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night,
worshiping God with fasting and prayer. (NLT)
I think about Anna and think about her life. She was
probably a devout Jew and had been brought up according to the traditions. She
very likely married young and I assume life was coming together for her as it
did for young Jewish girls in the first century B.C. The Scripture says she was
very old which simply means she had
outlived the normal life expectancy for people in those days. Her husband died
after seven years of marriage. I think this is when things began to change for
Anna.
When Anna is mentioned in Luke 2 it is says, she never left the Temple but stayed there
day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. I think about that: she
never left. I might draw the conclusion that Anna was a church-follower – she only
felt the presence of God when she was in the church-building. I might draw the
conclusion that she was a wannabe and found a place to hide from the rest of
life while avoiding the important stuff. I might.
But it says, Anna was a worshiper. It also says she was a
widow and I think the two are connected. I’m gonna bet that Anna was devastated
when her husband of seven years died. I’m gonna bet that hopes and dreams and
plans fell out of the sky like a plane-wreck. I’m gonna bet that her
sadness and grief drove her to the only place she knew to go and dropped her
off on the front porch of the Temple – then left.
I’m gonna bet she was looking for comfort and answers and, what was initially knee-jerk, turned into a lifestyle of friendship with (and
marriage to) God. I’ve seen it lots of times: God uses the tragic circumstances
of life to invite someone into a deeper walk with Him. Anna, I think, was one
of those people. And when it says, she never left, I think it means it became
her life to pour herself out daily to God and she found that when she did, He
filled her with Himself.
Anna wasn’t a wannabe – she was, like the rest of us, a
struggler. Life took a turn Anna didn’t expect and she did the only thing she
knew to do: run right straight to God for help. Funny though, she didn’t do
what a lot of others do, she didn’t get help and then leave and return to her
old life. She didn’t remarry. She didn’t have babies. She didn’t settle down
and run a household. Anna gave herself to God and He gave Himself to her. Anna
stayed with God. In His Temple.
I think the lesson for me today is: stay in His
presence. My circumstances are not like those of Anna. But I struggle in life
like she did. I don’t think her eighty-four years around the Temple were eighty-four
years of fun either; I think she may have fallen prey to those who thought she
was a nuisance or crazy (Temple hanger-outers can fall under that stigma you
know). But God never thought that of her and when He showed up one day as a wee-little, Anna knew, and she told, “…everyone
who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.” (V. 38) Maybe
all of Anna’s life was just for a time such as that.
Lord, like Anna, use me to share tidings of great joy to
those who think the USA is going down the toilet. May my life be like hers: a
life of staying – and fasting and prayer… Amen.
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