At the beginning of the New Testament, an angel shows up to a young couple about to be married… Mary and Joseph. The angel made it clear to them that Mary would give birth to God’s son—the Messiah! Now, that’s no small thing! That’s actually pretty life changing… eternally life changing for all of history and for all of humanity! What a weighty responsibility.
Yet when Simeon prophesied over Jesus, saying, “With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation; it’s now out in the open for everyone to see: A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations, and of glory for your people Israel,” Mary and Joseph were “speechless with surprise” at his words. (Luke 2:33 MSG) Had they forgotten what the angel had told them about this child before he was born? Why were Simeon’s words so amazing to them?
Later on in the book of Luke, Mary and Joseph actually lost the savior of the world! (In all of our parenting failures, at least we can say that we have never lost the Messiah!) He wasn’t really lost, but they were headed home after the Passover. They had walked for a whole day before they realized he was missing. It took them another day (although, I bet they moved much quicker on this trip) to get back to the city to look for him. Can you imagine the panic and fear they must have felt?
When they finally found him, he had a perfectly logical explanation (as all 12 year-olds do) about what he had been doing—sitting “among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions…” impressing them with his sharpness and his answers. Mom and Dad, though, were NOT impressed with his explanation. “They had no idea what he was talking about.”
In the mundaneness (is that a word?) of parenting and making a living, had they forgotten that they were raising the Son of God? Had the memories of those angelic visitations faded in the everydayness of home and work and life?
What promises has God made to you that have become cluttered with mundane busyness? What sacred things has the Holy Spirit whispered in your ear that have gotten drowned out with the noise of daily living?
Don’t be a victim of spiritual amnesia. Take some time today to be still and quiet before the Lord. Listen for that still small voice. Go back in your mind or maybe even in an old prayer journal and remind yourself of the things God has told you in the past. Look up those scriptures that he spoke to you through. Meditate on them. Meditate on who God is and what He thinks about you. You may just be “speechless with surprise!”
