“She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshipping God with fasting and prayer.” – Luke 2:37 NLT.
If you have read Luke 2 and glanced over the mention of Anna the prophet, you are just like me– in a hurry to encounter the Messiah for myself.
But today, I read Luke out loud, at a slow, poetic pace, and I have more questions and curiosity about why Luke begins the Gospel this way and why there are many mentions of women, including the special star, Anna.
Anna was a woman with a title– a special grace and calling. She was a prophetess– an oracle of God, a woman of great favor. And ultimately, Anna was loyal to our Savior despite disruptions in her personal life.
I was stunned as I sat with her reality: She was a prophetess and “her husband died when they had been married only seven years” (Luke 2:36 NLT).
Hmm. Anna, a gifted vessel and a woman of power and influence, suffered the death of her husband of 7 years.
How honored Anna was in the Temple of God, yet she was not exempt from grief. How godly and faithful she must have been, yet never remarried for 84 years (Luke 2:37). How she might have spent years in preparation for her groom to experience a dramatic loss. Still, she never lost her commitment and dedication to the One who is named “Faithful and True.”
Anna gave me a renewed perspective on what it means to live with integrity. I once believed that integrity meant “doing the right thing when no one is watching.” But Anna’s brief story exposes that integrity is doing life God’s way, even when you are suffering, even when it is convenient to sin, and even when there is more satisfaction in disobedience.
When the test of integrity comes, I pray that God would give us self-control even when indulgence is more satisfying. I ask that He would make us truth bearers even when telling lies feels like liberty. And, I ask for a faithful and steadfast love for Christ, lest the devil convince us that pride is the path to freedom.
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