Ps. 44: 3, 5  “…You with Your own hand drove out the nations, but them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, but them You set free;…  Through You we push down our foes; through Your Name we tread down those who rise up against us.”

Since it’s now into January of 2013, it’s obvious that the Mayan who predicted the end of the world on 12/21/12 had as much insight as the stone into which he carved his calendar.  There are those who attempting to salvage the apparent failure by saying that the calendar wasn’t intended to predict the end of the world, just the end of an age, and that December 22^nd simply marked the beginning of a new era of love, peace and cooperation among nations.  (Wasn’t that what the Age of Aquarius was supposed to be?)    

This was only the latest in numerous attempts to foretell the end of the world.  All have proven just as accurate.  No matter how many times these predictions fail, there will be at least some who will believe the next one.   You see the same thing with the “Predictions for the coming year” tabloids.  Look at the previous year’s predictions at the end of the year.  Good grief!  Although there are bound to be a few that pan out (which sheer statistical likelihood would predict), the vast majority fizzle.  Yet people buy into it. There is something in the human race that desperately longs to have “inside knowledge” about the how and when of things to come.

In the time of the Old Testament, the people were used to God acting through military, or military-type, means.  His rescue of them from slavery involved heavy tactics of increasingly horrific plagues culminating with the death of thousands of the Egyptians’ first born – not just of sons, but of their cattle, too.  As the people fled, God drowned much of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea.  The Israelite’s entry into the Promised Land had been accomplished through His empowerment of their military conquest of the peoples who were living in the land at the time.  Once established in their new home, when God’s people strayed into idol worship, God abandoned them to their enemies; when they cried out to Him, He raised up a rescuer who fought for and led a military campaign to defeat the foe.  Through the first kingship, to David, to the splitting of the kingdom under his sons, to the Diaspora of the Kingdom of Israel, to the Babylonian captivity and then the return of the people of the Kingdom of Judah, God’s saving power was most often shown in military and political might and methods, as frequently described in Psalms such as the one for today.

It should be no surprise, then, that in the time of Jesus’ coming, most of the Jews were looking for a Messiah who would be the ultimate military rescuer to lead a revolution to conquer their foes and return them to a position of political independence and power – forever.   The LORD had been silent (as far as recorded prophetic voice goes) for some 400+ years, it’s true.  During this time arose the Pharisees, who believed that if they could just follow the Law closely enough, they could please God enough to convince Him to act.  They missed the whole point about the heart, of course, and had turned following God into a mere religion of tradition, proscription, and ritual, but they were convinced that they were putting the right coin into the slot to get the gumball of God’s cooperation in restoring the nation to its Davidic splendor.  They considered the past as predictive of the future; what God had done before was surely what He would do again.

Contrast that with Simeon and Anna.  We are told that Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.”  After Anna had seen the Child, she gave thanks to God and spoke of Him to “all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”  Consolation.  Redemption.  Radically different concepts than conquest and revolution.  Simeon had been told that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  We don’t know at what point it was revealed to him that he would see that Christ as a mere infant, but from what little we’re told of Simeon, I doubt that he pestered God with questions about the manner of the encounter.  It was enough for him that he was told.  Though Simeon saw the Child, there is no indication that he witnessed that the ultimate fulfillment of that Child’s life – yet it was enough for him.  We’re not told that Anna was given any specific prophecy or foreknowledge of the Child’s coming, though she certainly recognized Him when she saw Him.  For her as for Simeon,  seeing just a small part of God’s promise of the coming Messiah was as good as seeing the whole thing accomplished.

Simeon and Anna were looking to see what God would do, so they were ready to see it when He acted.  The Pharisees were looking to see God do what they expected, so they were blind and couldn’t see what was right in front of them.  We have the same choice.  The more intent we are on predicting God’s future plans, determining when, where, and how He will accomplish His mission for us, the more we cloud our vision from being able to see what He is doing.  The more we simply wait for His consolation and redemption, the more we will see.

As we end this Christmas season and go on into the new year, let’s keep our eyes peeled!