Read Luke 2:36-38
When I was growing up in Stevenston and attending Bethany Hall, we were especially blessed with a number of ladies in the church. In fact I would say that the women made as big an impact on my life as the men - even though women were not given a public role in that church. In particular, I remember two spinsters who were very good friends - one named Margaret and another named Anna. I never ever heard them praying or speaking publicly in the church, but, from my recollection, they both made a huge contribution to the church. Above all, their lives were great witnesses to their love for the Lord Jesus and they loved all the members of the church. Anna passed away while still quite young but Margaret lived well into old age and she was very generous and kind. She used to invite our whole family to dinner when I was the preacher at the evening service. From my earliest attempts at preaching, I have learned to focus on good listeners. I tried to avoid looking at those who have either fallen asleep or are struggling to keep awake (does not say much about my preaching). And Margaret Park was a great listener and so I maintained eye contact with her while I was on the platform. Both ladies were a great encouragement to me in my early days of service for the Lord whether it was working with children or young people or Bible teaching or Gospel preaching. I was reminded of these two ladies - and many more from my time in Bethany Hall, Stevenston when I read again about Anna in the temple. We learn a number of interesting facts about this old lady.
Anna had been a widow for a long time. She was not a young lady - she was 84 years old. She had only been married for a comparatively short period of time - seven years and so she had been a widow much longer than she had been a wife. She had probably been a widow for around 60 years. Widows were vulnerable in Bible times and God made special arrangements to look after their welfare. It would appear that Anna had made the temple precinct her home. Luke does not provide us with many of the details so we do not know how she made a living or what her accommodation looked like. What is worth mentioning is the fact that she has a mission in her old age. She is not vegetating or feeling sorry for herself. She is engaged in worshipping day and night, fasting and praying. I know that a number of elderly ladies read this blog. Anna is a good example to elderly men and women. She keeps her mind active and she spends time in prayer and fasting. We have played down fasting in our church culture but it was practised in the New Testament. She was prepared to make a personal sacrifice before God. Luke tells us that she never left the temple and that she worshipped night and day. This is wonderful. She is close to God and is enjoying His presence and is engaged in the highest exercise of the heart - worship. There is a challenge to us all - especially those who are, like me, getting on in years. How much time do we spend praying to God? Are we content with a brief prayer in the morning or the evening? Anna lived a life of fasting, prayer and worship. We need women like Anna in our churches today. There was nothing to distract Anna from communion with God. She was not engaged in gossip or slander. She was not envious of the lives of other women. She was not wasting her time spending money frivolously. She was praying and worshipping - night and day. In today's world, she would be regarded as eccentric or boring.
She belonged to one of the lost tribes. We know the name of her father - Phanuel and we are told that Anna was from the tribe of Asher. Away back in 722 BC, the Assyrians had invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and had taken the Israelites into captivity. The tribe of Asher was one of the ten tribes who were taken captive by the Assyrians and are categorised as the lost tribes. It is interesting that her identity is still mentioned. She is functioning in the temple. She does not belong to the tribe of Judah or Benjamin - the two tribes that formed the southern kingdom around Jerusalem. This would give us a clue that while whole tribes were taken to Assyria, individuals found their way back to their homeland. God is a God of individuals. God is interested in us as individuals and not on account of our nationality or heritage. Anna's tribe had lost their territory - they had been given land along the seashore - they possessed the maritime portion of the rich plain of Esdraelon. The Assyrians would have taken over her ancestors' farming land and dispossessed them and taken them away to barren land in the north - modern day Iraq. We have all seen pictures of this land on television and it is predominantly desert. This was an injustice done to Anna's ancestors. So Anna could have been bitter and angry at her loss. She belonged to a tribe that had been dispossessed and her husband had died after only 7 years of marriage. But Anna was not bitter - she was too occupied with spiritual things to have time to be resentful.
Anna had a purpose in life. She was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. She must have known the Old Testament scriptures and she knew that deliverance was promised. She was waiting for the Messiah. She was not alone in this - when Anna saw the baby Jesus she recognised that this was the Messiah and she went and told others that she had found the Messiah. So there was a group of people who were waiting expectantly for God's intervention. There was much that could be criticised about the religious life of the country into which Jesus was born. We know that the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus (John 1:10-11) and John's Gospel details the bitter opposition of the Pharisees and the ruling religious elite to Jesus (Look at a previous Day Share entitled, This man is not from God 05/12/2020. ) John also describes the corruption at the top level in the religious elite - Annas and Caiaphas the high priests (Day Share entitled, Father-in-law 04/01/2021). But there is a record of a godly lady who is sharing the good news of the birth of the Messiah to others who were looking and longing for his coming.
For the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets [Amos 3: 7 ESV]. God has revealed his secret to this dear old lady who is described as a prophetess. There were few of these in the Bible but we know of at least three - Deborah (See Day Share entitled Deborah: Prophetess and Judge 06/02/2021 and Miriam (Day Share entitled, Miriam the Prophetess 29/01/2021). There was another prophetess called Huldah (2 Kings 22:14). God often raises up women to serve Him. I know that in this same chapter where we find the reference to Anna there is a longer reference to old Simeon but we are not going to study this great man in today's Day Share. I am making a point that God has a purpose for Christian women like Anna. Possibly there are a number of women reading this blog and maybe some of you are wondering if God has a purpose for your life. Start by engaging in sacrificial prayer and worship like Anna and God will use you to serve Him in your church and your locality. Prayer is a key part of the work of the Church and we have tended to relegate it to a minor role. All of us can pray - like Anna - day and night. Age is no barrier to prayer.
This is a later picture of Bethany Hall, Stevenston when our children were young in the 1980s and 1990s.
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