Verse 36-38 Here is a woman, called a prophet, who has a deep understanding of the scriptures. She was married for 7 years and when her husband died, she remained a widow. She is now 84 years old and she is constantly at the temple praying, worshipping, and fasting. This is amazing to me. Usually at that age people are thinking they are beyond “fasting.” Fasting is going without food in deep prayer for something. But this woman did not grow weary from doing what was right and in being deeply devoted to God. And because she was so diligent in her faith, God chose her to reveal this anticipated Messiah too! Once again, God led another person in the exact timing to this temple where Mary and Joseph were going about their duty of registering their son. And God’s leading was to reveal and confirm to these believers who have been waiting and watching for the Messiah. And their first natural reaction was not, “no way. This can’t be the Messiah.” They knew their scriptures. They knew what to look for. And they fully believed before they saw Him. They had a relationship with God and didn’t doubt what God revealed to their eyes and minds. Wow! What a great lesson! Have great faith and don’t be ashamed of what you believe in. God will honor your faith. He will make good on it! Keep believing, keep watching, keep reading His Word. He will reveal many things to you! And it will be so satisfying. It will fill you up and cause thanksgiving and worship to come out of your mouth. Just like Simeon and Anna.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray for this kind of faith that is still diligent and fervent after you at 84 years old. I pray for that kind of prayer life, that kind of worship, and fasting. Thank you for another reminder that your leading and timing are always working out good things in our lives, to reveal and confirm Your Word for those of us who are watching and waiting for it. Fill my spirit full of faith as I read Your Word so that I can fully believe and not doubt the things You show me. Give me the eyes to see it and the mind to comprehend Your work in front of me. Fill me up so that thanksgiving and worship are what comes out of my mouth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Before we go any further, we should flip over to Matthew for a piece of the story we’re missing here in Luke. Matthew 2:1-18 will cover the story of the Wise Men.

Remember the first four books of the New Testament are called the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And all four of them have a lot of the same stories of Jesus. But not any one of them includes all the stories of Jesus. We are actually not sure who wrote the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Some people believe it was actually written by the people whom the book is named after. But there is also debate on that. What I can tell you is that Luke is thought to be written by Luke (because of the style of writing matching the book of Acts, which Luke did write). Luke never actually walked with Jesus or saw the things he writes about in this book. He didn’t come on the scene until later, after Jesus’ life on earth. So this book, if Luke wrote this, is an eyewitness account. Meaning he heard these stories from people who were actually there and he wrote them down.

So if we want an accurate look at the time and what was going on after Simeon and Anna confirmed Jesus was the Messiah, we need to insert Matthew 2:1-18 which takes place at this point in the story.