“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.” Luke 2:25-27a
We don’t always hear a lot about Simeon, and there’s only a small paragraph about him, but there’s a lot behind those few words.
His name was Simeon, and names held a lot of meaning in the Hebrew culture.
The name Simeon was first used in Genesis as the name Leah gave the second son she conceived with Jacob.
“She (Leah) conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon.” Genesis 29:33
So, why did Leah name him Simeon? Because in the Hebrew Simeon means “hearing.”
The Lord heard (same root word) that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. He heard Leah’s heart grieve and groan, had mercy on her, and gave her another son.
Jesus’ birth was the end of 400 years of silence from the God of the Israelites.
The Israelites had largely turned away from God and His ways, and they endured much persecution, the desecration of the Holy of Holies, and the capture and recapture of Israel by multiple peoples.
God might have been silent, but He was not unseeing or unhearing.
So “when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son…” Galatians 4:4
God had heard the grieving and groaning of His people and gave the world a Son.
As Joseph and Mary took the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to consecrate Him to the Lord, the Holy Spirit led Simeon, whose name means “to hear,” to see the Savior of the world.
God hears. He is attentive to our cries. He is ever discerning and perceiving of the needs and concerns and trials and tribulations of one person as well as an entire people.
We need to remember that. Deep down in our hearts we need to believe that because if we don’t we won’t pray. If we think all is lost, if we think it’s useless, that God isn’t hearing us, we’ll give up hope and we’ll stop praying.
Have hope, take courage, we have a God who hears.
God’s Word shows us, through Leah and through Simeon, that God is a hearing, compassionate, and loving God.
So as we start this year, let’s remember that God hears our prayers and continue to pour out our hearts to Him who hears us and will answer when the set time has fully come.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15
