{"id":72490,"date":"2025-07-17T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/?p=72490"},"modified":"2025-07-02T14:38:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T18:38:57","slug":"simeon-and-anna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/simeon-and-anna\/","title":{"rendered":"Simeon and Anna"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:21-38<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love to know things. All the things. On the one hand, this desire to know everything has created in me a lifelong love of learning. On the other hand, it can make me pretty impatient when there\u2019s something I don\u2019t know and no one can help me find the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, I\u2019m the opposite of people like Anna and Simeon. I love how simple their stories are in Luke\u2019s Gospel\u2014they both longed for the redemption of Israel. They waited for the promised Messiah to come, the one who would be called \u201cWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace\u201d (Isaiah 9:6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna served in the temple, praying and fasting day and night (Luke 2:37). Simeon was told by God that he would not die before he actually saw the Messiah with his own eyes (v.26). How long had Simeon waited, I wonder. Was he patient as he waited for God to do what He promised to do? Did he have moments of doubt and frustration? Whatever Simeon and Anna might have felt, there\u2019s a powerful emotional pay-off when, on a certain day, a couple named Mary and Joseph brought a baby named Jesus into the temple to be dedicated and all of a sudden the wait was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Messiah had come, and Simeon didn\u2019t just get to see Him with his own eyes\u2014he got to hold Him in his arms! Is it any wonder that he prayed, \u201cNow Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. For my eyes have seen your salvation\u201d (vv.29\u201330). In other words, That\u2019s it! I\u2019m good\u2014I can die now because You kept Your promise, Lord! And when Anna saw Jesus, she did much the same, thanking God and telling everyone about the Messiah, sharing the good news with all those who were longing for redemption (v.38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They got to see in person what we long to see: the one who is called the cornerstone of our salvation (1Peter 2:7), the Savior we want all the world to know. And I\u2019m not going to lie, I\u2019m a little jealous of that at times. But I also know that there\u2019s a day coming when I\u2019ll get to meet Anna and Simeon, these two faithful servants who waited so long for their Redeemer to come. And when I do, I\u2019ll get to ask them what that was like. And together we will celebrate not just that He came but that His work is finally and fully finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that day isn\u2019t here yet. I get to wait for Jesus to come too. Because one day He will return. Whether it\u2019s eighty-four days or eighty-four years from now, I\u2019m going to do my best to keep waiting with hopeful expectation, looking forward to the day when we all get to stand together before Jesus and celebrate all that He has done for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Aaron Armstrong<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:21-38 I love to know things. All the things. On the one hand, this desire to know everything has created in me a lifelong love of learning. On the other hand, it can make me pretty impatient when there\u2019s something I don\u2019t know and no one can help me find the answer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":72348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[302],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pitnt"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72485],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"SIMEON AND ANNA<\/b>

\r\nby Aaron Armstrong<\/i>

\r\n

I love to know things. All the things. On the one hand, this desire to know everything has created in me a lifelong love of learning. On the other hand, it can make me pretty impatient when there\u2019s something I don\u2019t know and no one can help me find the answer.<\/p>
\r\n

In other words, I\u2019m the opposite of people like Anna and Simeon. I love how simple their stories are in Luke\u2019s Gospel\u2014they both longed for the redemption of Israel. They waited for the promised Messiah to come, the one who would be called \u201cWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace\u201d (Isaiah 9:6).<\/p>
\r\n

Anna served in the temple, praying and fasting day and night (Luke 2:37). Simeon was told by God that he would not die before he actually saw the Messiah with his own eyes (v.26). How long had Simeon waited, I wonder. Was he patient as he waited for God to do what He promised to do? Did he have moments of doubt and frustration? Whatever Simeon and Anna might have felt, there\u2019s a powerful emotional pay-off when, on a certain day, a couple named Mary and Joseph brought a baby named Jesus into the temple to be dedicated and all of a sudden the wait was over.<\/p>
\r\n

The Messiah had come, and Simeon didn\u2019t just get to see Him with his own eyes\u2014he got to hold Him in his arms! Is it any wonder that he prayed, \u201cNow Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. For my eyes have seen your salvation\u201d (vv.29\u201330). In other words, That\u2019s it! I\u2019m good\u2014I can die now because You kept Your promise, Lord! And when Anna saw Jesus, she did much the same, thanking God and telling everyone about the Messiah, sharing the good news with all those who were longing for redemption (v.38).<\/p>
\r\n

They got to see in person what we long to see: the one who is called the cornerstone of our salvation (1Peter 2:7), the Savior we want all the world to know. And I\u2019m not going to lie, I\u2019m a little jealous of that at times. But I also know that there\u2019s a day coming when I\u2019ll get to meet Anna and Simeon, these two faithful servants who waited so long for their Redeemer to come. And when I do, I\u2019ll get to ask them what that was like. And together we will celebrate not just that He came but that His work is finally and fully finished.<\/p>
\r\n

But that day isn\u2019t here yet. I get to wait for Jesus to come too. Because one day He will return. Whether it\u2019s eighty-four days or eighty-four years from now, I\u2019m going to do my best to keep waiting with hopeful expectation, looking forward to the day when we all get to stand together before Jesus and celebrate all that He has done for us.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"4","scripture":"Luke 2:21-38","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}