This Just Might Be Your Day
January 3, 2021 1 Samuel 17:12-22 Luke 2:21-40
If you are believer, there are going to be situations in which you pray for something to happen, and you will have an assurance that God has said yes, or you may hear God tell you that God is going to do something for you, and you become excited about it. The only problem with God is that there is often a delay between the promise and the gift or the fulfillment of the word. What do you do in the in between times?
We serve an awesome and incredible God who can do all things. Yet God chooses to work through the everyday small events of life. We think if God said it, then it should happen tomorrow. But a lot times when God starts things in motion, it begins with something really small.
Let’s look at two people, one a teenager by the name of David and the other an older man by the name of Simeon whom God arranged to put them where they were needed when the time came for the promise of God to be fulfilled
Let’s start with David, first introduced as the shepherd boy. The leader of God’s people was King Saul. King Saul just would not obey God. He always thought he had a good reason for why his way of doing something was better than what God had told him to do. God finally rejected him as king.
God told the prophet Samuel to go and anoint David to be the next king. Samuel goes and has an impressive dinner, and he anoints David, who is the youngest of his father’s son, a nobody, with oil. He doesn’t tell David, he will be the next king. David thinks the anointing is for him to either be a better shepherd in the field or a better musician with the harp. He does not understand that God has a much bigger picture in mind for his life.
My friend there is an anointing on every believer’s life. God has a much bigger plan in mind for us than we are conceiving inside of ourselves. That’s why I’m excited about what the Lord will do in our church this year. We have received an anointing to tear down strongholds and set people free from the chains of Satan to know the power and love of God.
Our God works through small steps and by being obedient to God. David’s steps to entering into the power of God began with his father’s request for him to be a delivery boy. His older brothers had gone off to war and were soldiers in King’s Saul army.
His father told him, “Son I’ve got two things I want you to do. First take ten loaves of bread and give it to your brothers, along with ten cheeses and give it to the commander of their unit. Second, talk to your brothers and see how your brothers are doing and bring back word to me.”
Now David had been anointed by Samuel. He knew there were times when the spirit of God had come upon him in a mighty way. Yet his father wanted him to take the role of a delivery boy. Suppose for a moment, David had said, “I don’t want to go.” What if David had decided, “I’m going to send someone else to do the job.” After all, God had anointed him for something much greater. Sometimes we just need to humble ourselves and do something we rather not do for us or for the kingdom to move forward.
David had no way of knowing, that his father’s instructions, simple as they were, would put him on the path that would lead to his divine destiny. David looked at his day timer and scheduled in 2:00pm drop off lunch to brothers, 3:00pm return to the sheep. 10:00pm call it a day and go home.
David didn’t know that God did not have to follow his schedule. David did not know what was waiting for him at the 3:00 hour. David did not know, that his obedience to his father was going to change his life forever.
You see he made it at 2:00pm to drop off the bread for his brothers and the cheese for the commander. He searched and found his brothers to see how they were doing. He didn’t know that at 3:00pm instead of going back to the sheep, he would be going out to fight the giant Goliath. He didn’t know that at 10:00pm instead of calling it a day, there would be a victory party celebrating him as one of the newest heroes in the nation of Israel.
That morning when he got up, if someone had told him, “This Just Might Be Your Day”, he might have laughed and said, “Look at my calendar. What makes you think this day could be any different than yesterday.” I want you to know that when the will of God for you intersects your life of obedience, all kinds of things become possible. God is not limited by our ability to plan out things. God sees so much more on the table than we do.
I want us to see how God works in the everyday things of our lives. New Year’s come and it pushes us away from the Christmas story far too quickly. But I want us to go back there for a moment. Luke uses a lot of eyewitnesses in writing the book of Luke so that people could verify what he had written about Jesus. He refers to people who were highly respected and regarded by the people as some of his witnesses.
Simeon is the second person I want us to observe. He is now an old man trying to hang on to a promise from God. Luke lets us know that there was a man living in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Simeon was trying to live as close to God as he knew how. He was held high esteem by the people.
Simeon knew that his nation need a spiritual revival. People were going through the motions, but their hearts were not in serving God. He was praying day after day that God would send a savior to his people as the prophets had foretold God would hundreds of years earlier. At some point the Holy Spirit spoke to Simeon and said, “Simeon the Lord has heard your prayer. You will not die until you see the Lord’s Messiah.”
Simeon must have been thrilled to hear this news. Yet we do not know what age he was when got this news. The Holy Spirit did not tell him, when or where it was going to happen. What would you do with this message from God?
Do you go out and proclaim to the world, “Good news, the Messiah, the savior of the world is about to come. He will be here before I die.” Can you imagine if Simeon had gotten this word at age 40 and has been proclaiming it for 25 years?
People would have been saying, “you don’t need to listen to old Simeon. He’s been preaching the same thing for 25 years.” The issue is not how long a message has been preached; the issue is, “is the message true?”
When Jesus was about 40 days old, Joseph and Mary took him to the temple to complete the purification rites that had been required by the Law of Moses. This is something that would have been done for every first born male in the family. Mary and Joseph were not expecting anything special to happen.
After all when Jesus was eight days old, they took Jesus and had him circumcised by a local priest. The priest did not know who Mary, Joseph or Jesus was. He simply did the circumcision and sent them on their way. He had no idea that he had circumcised the Son of God.
Jesus was just another baby boy to him. Sometimes we are not aware of when we are playing a part in God’s grand scheme of things. Treat everybody the best you can. You don’t know who is standing in front of you.
God knows how to keep his promises. Simeon was not in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. He hadn’t seen the angels who appeared to the shepherds. Now that it was his turn to intersect with the life of Jesus, I want us to realize God did not send an angel to him saying “get over to the temple quickly and look for a couple with a baby in a red basket.”
Simeon’s day had started out just like all the other days had. I doubt if there were any signs that would have led him to believe “This just might be his day” to see God fulfill His word.
Simeon may have been on his way to pick up some bread at the market, when something in his spirit, moved on him to go to the temple. I want you to know, God knows how to put you in the right place at the right time for God to fulfill his word to you. How many of you have had to stop doing something and did something differently because something moved you to go in a different direction.
I recall a time when Pastor Toby shared how as a little girl she was working at the dining room table, and something told her to get and go to the kitchen. No sooner than she left, the chandelier from the ceiling came crashing down upon the table. By listening, she avoided a major catostrohe in her life. Part of our prayer for 2021 should be, “Lord, let me be in touch with your Holy Spirit so that I move when you want me to move.”
Simeon forgot about what he was supposed to doing and went into the temple courts not even knowing why he was doing it. All he knew was, “I believe the Holy Spirit wants me to go there.” It just so happened, that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were coming to present Jesus to the priests.
Just suppose Simeon had ignored the voice of the Holy Spirit to forget about going to the store for some bread and go to the temple instead. Would he have seen Jesus? Have you ever wondered how many times you may have missed God by ignoring the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life? We can get so caught up in doing our thing, that we miss the fulfillment of God’s promise to us.
There were a lot of other people in that temple that day, who saw Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and just walked on by without saying a thing. But Simeon, the moment he saw them, he went over and ask for permission to hold their baby.
Simeon took hold of the child and began praising God. He said to the Lord, “ Now, you can let die in peace, because I have seen with my own eyes, the salvation you have prepared in the sight of all nations. This child is going to be a light of revelation to the Gentiles and will be glory for your people Israel.” God showed Simeon that Jesus was not just going to be a Savior for the Jews, but for all the nations of the world.
That message that Simeon had been preaching day in and day out has now become a reality. When Mary and Joseph heard what Simeon had to say they marveled at the obvious great things their child would do. He was going to bring light into a world of darkness.
Think for a moment what light will do. When you are in a place of darkness and your life is at a standstill looking drab and drear, Light makes the stillness come alive. Things that looked like shapes in the darkness with no meaning, become distinct items alive with colors and movement.
Light settles fear. When you’re in darkness, your eyes see things that look as though they can hurt you, but the light shows its nothing more than a broom upside down with a coat on it.
Light reveals mystery. When you’re unsure of the future and don’t know which way to go a light in the distance will be able to guide you to an area in which you can see more clearly and understand what’s really going on.
Simeon understood that Jesus was coming to bring us light for our lives so that we don’t have to keep stumbling with the same mistakes. Jesus was coming to get rid of the fear in our lives to replace it with a trust in God.
Jesus was coming to bring mystery into our lives by his call to come and follows Him. Simeon understood more than we do that “This Just Might Be Our Day.”
Mary and Joseph were all excited about what was being said about their son, but Simeon turned to Mary with some sober words. “This child is going to cause people to have to make a decision about him. Many will rise and many will fall because of this child. This child is going to reveal what is in the hearts of people. Mary, a sword is going to pierce your own soul too.”
When Simeon got up that day, he did not know that he would be encountering the Son of God and holding him in his arms. He did not know that he would be prophesying a message that would still be read over 2000 years later. All he did was listen to the Holy Spirit as he was being led to go to the temple. Where is God trying to lead you today?
Luke says there is one other person who could confirm what Simeon had said. Her name was Anna. She was a prophet who was married for 7 years and then her husband died. She lived as a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple. She spent her time fasting and praying. She may have been doing this for almost 40 years or more. Just as Simeon finished his prophecy, she came up to Mary, Joseph and Jesus and gave thanks to God. She started preaching that Jesus is the one we have all been waiting for.
When Anna got up that day, she did not know “that this was going to be her day”. All those years she had been fasting and praying, never leaving the temple have come to completion had not been in vain. She too has seen Jesus for herself. What you have been going through is not going to be in vain. God sees your sacrifices.
Luke provided these eyewitnesses accounts to let us know that Jesus was not some made up fairy tale or some mythological character. He wants us to know that Jesus was God’s gift to the world from the very beginning.
Jesus came to be the Savior of the world. But it will mean nothing to you if you do not know him as your own personal savior. One day you will stand before God and as Simeon prophesied, the secrets of your heart will be revealed.
Will one of the secrets be that you never chose to give your life to Christ in its entirety? Will a secret be that chose to trust in yourself, your own goodness and your own sincerity for your salvation rather than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
If this is your case, then I want you to know this just might be your day, to change your eternal destiny. Jesus wants you to have his life and he wants you to have it now. All you have to do is confess, Lord I am a sinner, and I need you in my life. I accept the work of Jesus Christ for my salvation. Give me your promised Holy Spirit and change me.
If you’ve accepted Christ, but still need more of his grace in your life to be set free. Would you just say, Lord this is my day to be set free. I yield myself to you. I claim the power of God over my life and the power of Jesus to be set free.” I declare I am a new person in Christ. I will live in the identity that God has for me.
