Luke 2:29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.”

God keeps all of His promises, even individual ones. We don’t know the circumstances, but verse 26 tells us that God had made it clear to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Messiah with his physical eyes before he died. That’s not the sort of promise he would have gone around blabbing to everyone, but he probably shared it with a few close friends to encourage them, friends who were close enough not to think he was bragging. Most people don’t think they’re important enough to God for Him to say anything to them personally, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is the devil who tells us we are worthless! We are not to get inflated opinions of ourselves, (Romans 12:3) but we need to realize that since God loves each of us enough to send Jesus to die for us, of course He is intimately concerned with every detail of our lives. He does speak to each of us in various ways all the time, but most of the time we are too insensitive to recognize it. Much of the time we have either quenched or grieved the Holy Spirit, (1 Thessalonians 5:19, Ephesians 4:30) which tends to leave Him speechless. However, even when He is talking to us, we often think it’s our own imagination, or simply don’t hear at all. As has come out recently with Joseph and dreams, God uses different methods to speak to different people, but we should all be expecting and looking forward to hearing from God.

I do indeed hear from God regularly, but the question then becomes, how do I respond to what He tells me? Several years ago He spoke a wonderful prophecy through me in a service of this church, promising fruitfulness in His kingdom. I am not to take that for granted, but neither am I to forget it and be discouraged by immediate circumstances, whatever they might be. I am to remember that God intends to use us, in speech and action, and that the results will be glorious. Just as with Simeon, I will see the fulfillment of God’s promises in this life. I need to remember that and keep myself available at all times for however God wants to use me in that fulfillment.

Father, thank You for the reminder that the power is all of You and not me. As I tell others to do, help me take my eyes off of myself and keep them on Christ, (Hebrews 12:2) so that I may walk in such fellowship with Your Spirit that I am fully available at all times for however You want to use me, for Your kingdom and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!