Keep Coming

"Anna, a prophet was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 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." Luke 2:36-37

Our culture presumes that people are most productive in their younger years--when their physical strength and energy levels are at a peak and their minds are most alert. But Anna's big moment came when she was a very, very old widow.

First, she chose to worship at the Temple day and night, continually fasting and praying. Even one of these spiritual disciplines repeated on a daily basis for decades would be an incredibly rigorous exercise for a person of any age. Yet she never tired of the routine, because she was a prophet waiting for God to rescue Jerusalem.

Herein lies Anna's secret. She had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem and wasn't going to miss His coming! Why didn't she give up after ten years or twenty years or fifty years? God told her to keep coming, to keep waiting, to keep waiting. And so she did...

When you hear Him tell you something--whether others agree or disagree--you must keep on trusting Him until you see it happen. And the more you seek Him, the more confident you become in waiting. And no matter how old you are, no matter how long you have waited, if He asks you to keep coming--you will!

This is the secret of faith--being sure of what you hope for certain of what you do not see!

From "Sacred Obsession Devotional" by Becky Tirabassi