Listen: God is Always Speaking

Many of us have had the experience of trying to gain a child’s attention. You may stand the child in front of you, have them look you in the eye, give them instructions, and even have them repeat after you. When you ask them did you hear me or were you listening? “Yes, I am,” is the response. So what are you going to do? You may ask the child. And they quite literally have no idea what you just said.

How is this possible? Their little brains were so busy thinking about what they wanted to tell you or what they wanted to go do once you set them free that even though they seemed outwardly focused on you there was no listening or hearing happening.

Do we do this to God?

How often have we sat in His presence trying to still our busy minds and slow down our runaway thoughts, so we can listen to what He has to say? Only to leave our time with Him and realize we were the ones doing all the talking.

I think there is a time and a place for that, and sometimes it is good to get in God’s presence and have Him be the safe place to release all our thoughts and emotions.

But, there is something very special when we take the time to listen to God. When we grow accustomed to hearing his voice, there is another level of intimacy that develops.

In Luke 2, there is a story of two people who encountered Jesus as a baby. This story isn’t spoken of as widely as the shepherds and the wise men, but these two people saw Jesus because they listened to God, heard God, and were willing to be obedient in waiting on God.

In Luke 2, beginning in vs. 22, the Bible describes how Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus into the temple with a sacrifice to dedicate Jesus and fulfill the law of Moses. There was a man there named Simeon. Ironically the name Simeon means “he who hears.” Simeon would live up to his name.

Simeon believed in all the prophecies about Jesus and knew that He would be coming soon. Luke 2:26 – 31 (TPT) “For the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he saw the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Keeping his promise, the Holy Spirit led Simeon to be in the temple court at the very moment Jesus’ parents entered to fulfill the requirement of the sacrifice. Simeon cradled the baby in his arms and praised God and prophesied: Lord and Master, I am your loving servant, and now I can die content, for you have fulfilled your promise to me. With my own eyes I have seen your Word, the savior you sent into the world.”

Simeon goes on to prophecy incredible things over baby Jesus as well as Mary that left Mary and Joseph awestruck.

Simeon had dedicated his life to the Lord. He had sought the Lord, and the Lord had promised Simeon he would not die before he saw Jesus. That is quite a promise for the Lord to give and for Simeon to receive. It did not come quickly. This was years of waiting on God. And did you also notice in vs. 27 the Bible says the Holy Spirit led Simeon into the temple court right at the moment Mary and Joseph came in?

Simeon still needed to listen and be directed by the Holy Spirit. We can assume this was a busy and crowded place. Simeon was not the only person able to dedicate baby Jesus, so Simeon had to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading to connect with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus that day.

Simeon was willing to listen to the Lord. Simeon was willing to believe the Lord, and Simeon was greatly rewarded. He indeed did not see death until he saw Jesus, and he was able to dedicate Jesus and prophecy over Him. What an incredible honor!

There was someone else at the temple that day. Her name was Anna, and she was a prophetess. The Bible says that she had been a widow for many many years. After her husband died, she chose to dedicate her life to worshipping God in the temple. She had been in the temple for eighty – four years. Bible scholars speculate she was around 100 when she encountered Jesus in the temple.

Luke 2:38 (TPT) says, “While Simeon was prophesying over Mary and Joseph and the baby, Anna walked up to them and burst forth with a great chorus of praise to God for the child. From that day forward she told everyone in Jerusalem who was waiting for their redemption that the anticipated Messiah had come!”

Anna may not have had the same promise Simeon had, but the Lord honored her dedication to Him. She had served the Lord faithfully for the last eighty – four years, and as Simeon was dedicating Jesus, she recognized the Messiah for who He was. She indeed knew who this baby Jesus actually was. He was the promised Messiah. And as the Bible says, she told anyone who came to the temple that the Messiah had come.

What an incredible story of faithfulness to the Lord and how the Lord honored that faithfulness!

I love both of these stories about Simeon and Anna. They are two people who get a mention in one chapter of one of the gospels, but what incredible stories they both have. They are people who learned to listen and to hear God and develop intimacy with Him, and because of that intimacy, God entrusted them to touch the baby Jesus.

I believe God loves doing things like this. He loves orchestrating events such as these for those people who cultivate intimacy with Him. He loves us, His children. He loves to hear our thoughts and is there for us when we need a safe place to express our emotions and fears.

However, don’t let it stop there. God also longs to partner with us. He wants to tell us the things that make him joyful as well as the things that break His heart. I think it gave Him immense joy to have both Simeon and Anna experience Jesus as a baby in the temple that day because He knew how much joy it would bring them.

Remember friend, God is always for us, never against us. Allow Him to speak to you. Write those things down so you don’t forget. Get accustomed to listening to His voice and hearing His heart. Be willing to partner with Him in bringing heaven to earth.