“Senseless people do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evil doers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.” (Psalm 92:6-7 NIV)
Sustained growth takes time. Season after season passes by and the righteous wrestle and persevere through storms and droughts and harsh winters and baking summers. God’s people eventually come to understand that flash growth is not lasting: weeds that follow the rain are easily yanked out of the ground. Oaks and cedars and olive trees take decades to tower, where annuals plant, peak and die at their feet over and over throughout the life span of such a tree.
The wicked, the senseless, stand for a season, but the righteous stand forever.
This text in Psalm 92 caused me to pause and pray, “Lord, help me take a long view of my life. Give me a glimpse of Anna at eighty: weathered, sturdy and holy after a lifetime of pursuit through all seasons.”
Almost immediately, I saw Anna in the temple in the pages of scripture. She is my namesake and long-time role model. I flip to her story in Luke 2 for reference, but I almost know her three verses by heart.
“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking roared to the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36-38 NIV)
This woman experienced seven years of marital bliss (or misery, how would we know?) and then her life as wife ended ahead of schedule. Her response to personal tragedy is notable: she spent her days and nights in the Temple. She devoted her life to total pursuit of the Lord.
Her story is highly unusual. Anna was simply the wrong sex for Temple service. Not only that, she hailed from the wrong tribe, too. Every time I study her three scriptures, I have so many questions. Where did she sleep? How did she support herself? What were her interactions like with the holy men that worked there? Did she encounter the same sort of sexism-shrouded-in-complementarianism that I encounter in ministry today? Did she wrestle with her calling? When did she make peace with her life looking so different from the women around her?
Even with my questions unanswered, the prophet Anna presents a beautiful example of a woman flourishing in her faith over eight decades. What are her notable qualities? Fidelity: Anna took up residence in God’s house despite or due to the disappointment she suffered. Personal discipline: Anna’s life was framed out by her commitment to the fundamentals of worship, prayer and fasting. Discernment: Anna recognized the infant Savior when most others still couldn’t see Him clearly. Gratitude: she thanked God for the opportunity to serve Him in such an unusual life. Evangelism: Anna refused to keep her faith to herself, she readily shared her experience with others.
This woman, an unlikely female prophet serving in the Temple, is an incredible example of the drawn-out process of flourishing. Anna’s Kingdom potential and purpose did not culminate until her last few years on earth. She surely passed on before Jesus returned to Jerusalem at age twelve. She was long gone by the time His public ministry began and He made His way toward the cross. But she was there in her eighties, ready and waiting to perceive the newborn Savior when His weary parents carried Him across the threshold of the Temple. She beheld Him with her own eyes clouded with age and she instantly recognized Him as Messiah.
Flourishing, truly growing up into the image of God, will take many seasons. Thank the Maker that He gives us time. Most of us have full decades to come to terms with the gospel and reckon our flesh with it’s uncomfortable truth. If it’s fast and easy, then we are weeds. If it’s frustratingly slow and strenuous, then we can trust that God is growing something enduring in us. Believers are cultivated for far more than a season, we are propagated to stand for eternity. When we can keep that in mind, it makes sense that our maturation process will be significantly slower than the world around us can appreciate.
This weekend the kids are coming home. With gas bumping four dollars a gallon, we are having our annual Thoreson Family Retreat right here under our own roof. One of our planned activities is planting a Southern Star Magnolia in our back lot. Though we will buy a pre-potted sapling and putting it in the ground together, I know full-well it will be years before she’ll reach the height we’re hoping for. But I can picture this tree two decades from now: a beautiful green tower of flowers standing strong in the yard behind our house. There will be huge fragrant blooms bursting on her branches and great shady space beneath her outstretched arms. My vision for this magnolia is similar to God’s dream for us. He plants full decades in advance, sure of the slow and steady process of our growth and smiling over our far-off flourishing because He can already see it.
“The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful]; They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable]. Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. [Growing in grace] they will still thrive and bear fruit and prosper in old age; They all flourish and be vital and fresh [rich in trust and love and contentment]; [They are living memorials] to declare that the Lord is upright and faithful [to His promises]; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (Psalm 92:12-15 AMP)
Lord, forgive us for the sin of comparison with others. How often we look to the right and the left and find ourselves wanting. When we consider the fast flourishing of the wicked, help us remember their end, as well. Keep us close and content in our lot with You, focused on flourishing over the long haul. We realize that date palms and cedars don’t tower up in a flash; there is a steady perseverance that takes place over many seasons. Please birth such perseverance in us as we seek to serve You for eternity, not just today. Amen.