A man called Simeon

Oh God, make me a Simeon. That was my cry the other morning. God make me a Simeon. Remember Simeon? He is that old man, I suppose He was old because of what he said later, introduced simply as a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, a man described as righteous and devout, who had the Spirit upon him. He prophesied over Jesus at his dedication in the temple as a baby. Oh God make me a Simeon, why?

Simeon knew the voice of God, He had an intimate relationship with God, so much so that He had cut a deal with God that was unique, that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. No one else as far as we know had been given such a promise. Oh I do want to be a Simeon.

Simeon was a man of faith. Israel had been waiting for the Messiah for generations, and here is one man who dares to believe that he will actually get to see the Messiah. The promise of the Messiah had been long in arriving, but that did not deter him, he believed what God had said and continued to wait for it. That I might be a Simeon!

Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit, and so he was rightly positioned to do the will of God. He was not agonizing over where he should be and what he should be doing, he knew. And when the time came, the Holy Spirit directed him to the right place at the right time, and to the right child. He was ‘guided by the Spirit’ to enter the temple at the very moment when Jesus’s parents brought him in. Oh to be led by the Spirit.

Simeon saw what others did not see. He saw a child, but saw more than a child, He saw the Saviour of the world. He took the child in his arms and boldly stated ‘my eyes have seen Your salvation… a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to Your people Israel’. Even when Jesus was a grown man working miracles and healing people, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, some still did not recognize Him. Simeon however, where others saw an infant, saw the Messiah. Oh that we will have eyes to see what God sees.

God make me a Simeon. Simeon had focus, had a purpose to His existence. He lived exclusively for the kingdom of God. And when God’s purpose for him was fulfilled, to see the Messiah, declare and reveal him to His generation, he was done. He said, ‘Now, Master, You can dismiss Your slave in peace, according to Your word.’ In other words I have completed my assignment, now take me home.

So I say God make me a Simeon, to hear you accurately, be led by Your Spirit, be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing, able to see beyond the visible and see what others cannot see, see what God sees, and to live exclusively for the kingdom and the purpose of God.

And even more, I will say, Father, raise up a host of Simeons in my generation, people able to see and align themselves with the purpose of God. While the Pharisees mutter, groan and growl, raise up a generation of pure hearted men and women with nothing to recommend them but their devotion to Christ who will speak and release Your word of promise to this generation. Do it Lord, and put me right there in the midst of them.

Selah!