Day 11: Devoted Through the Wilderness

“She was very old” - what a way to be described; not just “old,” but “very old.” However, Anna being “very old” has a lot to do with the story of her waiting. It tells us that her waiting has gone on for a LONG time. Scripture says “she never left the temple, but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.” What was she waiting for? Or more like, who was she waiting for? The Messiah. The One who would “rescue Jerusalem.”

We read that Anna’s husband died after just seven years of marriage. I’m glad Luke includes this context because I think it gives us a window into who this woman was, and the character that would be developed in someone who lost their husband that young. We also read that she remained a widow until 84. Doing some simple math and using a culturally normal age for her marriage, she probably spent three-fourths of her life as a widow. Three-fourths of her life, or 60+ years, never leaving the Temple, worshiping God, fasting, praying, being totally devoted. Wow.

I wonder if this prophet Anna would have been all-in, devoted to worshiping God in the Temple, had her husband not died. I obviously can’t know the answer to that question, and yet, it does make me wonder, “what do seasons of wilderness cultivate in us?” For Anna, she used this time of grieving and mourning to draw her close to where God “lived,” the Temple. She could have gone about her days mourning and I’d imagine folks wouldn’t question her. Yet, she didn’t. She used the pain to draw her in. She sought the Lord and now used this “empty” time and space to fill it with Him. She possibly knew, being a prophetess, that He was going to be coming soon, like actually soon, and she wasn’t going to miss it.

In my own life, I’m certain that my devotion to seeking God would not be so strong had I not had a long period of wilderness while waiting for children. Five years of infertility feels very small compared to 60 years of waiting, but in the middle, it felt long and often without hope. During that time I was so desperate for God to move, in a way that honestly hasn’t been matched since. My sweetest times of connection and hearing from Him came during that wilderness season. There were so many opportunities for God to “be close to the brokenhearted” (Ps 34:18), and He was as I honestly poured out my heart to Him.

God rewarded Anna’s devotion and worship by allowing her to behold the infant Messiah. What an absolute honor. For us, although not a tangible sense, we get to behold our Messiah in worship and prayer through the power of the Holy Spirit. He fills us and meets us in our questions and wilderness. How is your current wilderness cultivating devotion to God in you? If you mercifully aren’t in any “wilderness,” how might you still choose devotion to God today?


PRAY:
Father, meet me in my wilderness of                         . Show me how to cry out to you; to worship you, like Anna, even in the midst of pain. May my honest crying out be worship unto you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.