“And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” — Luke 2:36-38
Last time we considered Anna, the prophetess. This time, consider Anna’s great age and what that says about her perseverance in the Lord. Scholars disagree about exactly how old Anna was. Some say she was eighty-four. Others say she had been widowed for eighty-four years. If she married at age 13 [not uncommon in that day], was married for seven years [for so the text says], and was widowed for eighty-four years, she was one hundred and four! Either way, she faithfully served the Lord in the temple, “serving day and night with fastings and prayers...giving thanks to God.”
Being a widow, she might have tried to justify “being mad at God,” as some thoughtless folks do today. She might have drowned her sorrows in living her life for herself. But she did not! Her sorrow was turned to joy! How? By serving the Lord, fasting, praying and by being thankful.
Oh, let us persevere in the Lord! Let us refuse to indulge in self-pity, living for ourselves. Let us instead, spend every day of our lives serving the Lord and His church, fasting and praying, and living a life of thanksgiving even in the midst of life’s sorrows.
More next week...