Since 2018 God has made me return to a character in the preparation for the 1st Advent, Christmas. Each time God brings more insight that I had not considered. Luke introduces this person and very fleeting references denote a deeper significance. Anna, considered a prophetess of the Tribe of Asher, has been many times a focus of my attention, because it sets a standard for spiritual preparation. I believe that through the last 6 years of study we are at a similar upheaval and transition.
In the image above shows directly the transition from the caterpillar to the butterfly. In the spiritual is the same kind of process. Anna’s ministry whilst being almost not recognised is for me, and being persuaded of, the most significant of all the Christmas story. It is considered this because of the sacrifices of Anna, the duration of her ministering to the Lord. 84 years is a considerable time. In those years upheavals and changes occurred. Israel was newly occupied by the Romans. Herod tears down parts of the Temple.
Yet in the midst of all this Anna is there praying and fasting.
Yet the doorway into this preparation was marked by bereavement and loss. Her husband of 7 years passed away. Yet from that place she could discern the higher call. She did not allow loss to defeat her purpose of life. She found it by revelation. She knew that in the years of the so-called “prophetic silence,” no prophetic voice sounded over the nation. This happened because there was no true son of David on the Throne. The nation was now a province of a greater empire.
It shone out to me how Anna found her vocation out of this devastation, I term it as that, because her husband’s work sustained her, his love secured her. That was lost suddenly.
Right now life is filled with suddenlies and tragedy. I think it takes a extending Hand of God to bring us, and Anna then, to a knowledge that beyond the pain, beyond the lack, there is something to pursue.
We have many choices when faced with these sudden tragedies, either we become bitter, or we see them as an opportunity for discovering a higher life. It is a lesson for us. The Christmas story is not one without pain. Its not one of little sacrifice.
It has from personal experience, losses, that I am can testify that I discovered hidden doors.
Some of those doors led to greater revelation. Greater intimacy with God. Here above in the image we see the ornate doors surrounded with books, they represent the revelations God cares to bestow on those who pursue. Then here we see lights, different forms of producing light, and represent the different ways God illuminates our spirit.
What I always come back to is a scenario:
Many times I can be shopping and God inspires me to enter a coffee shop and just open the Word. I value these times more than speaking before great congregations, because there are so many today speaking, teaching, but they have lost the simplicity and intimacy. This intimacy and simplicity lead us to move and live out of the box man has made for God. My walk with God is not about a audience with men, but with Christ Himself.
The fruit of this is when disaster hits I may for just instances be puzzled but will get to pursue the answers, and they are often outstanding and marvellous. For Anna, she withstood the temptation to give up yet God sustained her there in the temple.
These images are used to visualise the scene I am speaking of, and begin to understand that beyond reading the Biblical text we can place ourselves sat with her imagining what her prayers would have been.
This pursuit of 84 years led her to recognize the form of Christ, that can be missed by ordinary people. She is gifted with spiritual discernment. What an emotion it would have been for her to see beyond the baby to see a King. God sends us Himself in the smallest of situations, the most insignificant places, with the most forgotten people. Once we enter this contemplative lifestyle the smallest and strangest signs are instantly caught and recognized.
The Christmas message is about the smallest things, hence this series is called Hidden Christmas, because there is so much hidden from view when the Church and the world concentrate on traditional forms of telling the story. Let us be like Anna, not let the losses of this life stop us from recognizing the hidden doors that lead us to God Himself.
Maranatha!
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