500 years ...

I've been thinking a lot lately about God's promise-keeping nature.  I know in my head that God is a faithful promise keeper, but I also know that I'm frequently oblivious to that fact on a daily basis.  I want to want the things that please the Lord and to live boldly confident that He's delighted to provide them.

Today, I read from several different passages.  The first was Genesis 5, mostly a geneology, with a few familiar names sprinkled throughout, including Noah.  Genesis 5:32 says, "After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth."  500 years old?  Seriously?  I mean, I know that people lived longer back then, but even in the rest of the chapter, most people started having kids before their 200th birthday.  Noah was seriously behind.  And, then he had the whole ark thing and the 120 years.  I just had to stop a minute and ponder that.  Why in the world did God wait 500 years before making Noah a father?  Was Noah concerned that he might not have sons to carry on his family at any point in those 500 years?  Did waiting 500 years to have sons and then being blessed with three sons shape Noah's relationship with God and willingness to trust Him when it came time to build an ark on dry land?

Then, the last passage I read this morning was from Luke 2.  It was the story of Simeon, the guy who believed the Lord had spoken to him and promised him that he would see the Christ before he died.  I don't know how old Simeon was, but he seemed ready to die once he'd held the baby Jesus and recognized Him as the Messiah.  I wonder how long he'd been waiting for that promise to be fulfilled?  I wonder if he ever felt crazy?  I wonder if others thought him strange?  Did he tell them what he was waiting to see?  I wonder if he ever had health problems and doubted in his own mind the Voice that had made that promise?  It was a pretty radical hope to cling to after 400 years of silence from the Lord or His prophets.

All of this led me to thinking  about the things I'm asking God for, waiting on Him to accomplish, believing He will do.  There are some very specific hopes I have placed in Him, things I have felt led to pray that seem a bit wild and far-fetched even in my own mind most days, times when I am sure I heard His voice but I could never prove it.  The longing, the waiting, the hoping, the anticipating ... it's what drives me to my knees, draws me closer to Him over and over again.  Today, as I thought about Noah and Simeon, I tried to imagine what it would truly be like to have all those dreams fulfilled, and I began a new prayer in earnest, that God would never fulfill one promise without giving me another so that I might never cease to long for and hope in Him.


May no promise fulfilled ever satisfy me like the simple joy of knowing Christ.


"What I once considered gain, I now consider loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord." Philippians 3:8