Words of knowledge from Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 12. “Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.” Words of knowledge include the word faithfulness and the best way perhaps to describe faithfulness is by way of example. The other day in a BIBLE study, the leader of that group had several members read the Christmas story as recorded in Luke ch. 2. And we read of the portion where Jesus is brought to the temple by His parents to present Him to the Lord as required by the Law (Luke 2:23) and as we read of that scenario, which I have read many times before, I began to see in a certain woman named Anna just a wonderful example of faithfulness. It says there starting to read at verse 36, “Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, She was of great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. 37. And this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Several other versions say she was a widow “of great age, having lived with her husband seven years after their marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty four.” Perhaps this is a little clearer. She was eighty four.
Here indeed is a picture of faithfulness, a portrait of faith you might say and you would be correct in saying so. Here are some definitions from the dictionary of the word faithfulness.
1.strict or thorough in the performance of duty as a faithful
Worker
2.true to one’s word, promise, vow, etc.
3.steady in allegiance or affection, loyal, constant, as: faithful friends.
And there are several more definitions of the word faithfulness from the dictionary but none of them seemed to fit…they did not do this lady justice however the Lord seemed to drop the real meaning into my heart of this woman’s faithfulness and it is “sold out”.
Sold out to God….I wonder how many of us (whoever and wherever you are in the world), how many are sold out to God? What do you think faithfulness means in your life? She was a woman who expected something from God. And she received what she had been longing for and it caused her to worship and to proclaim the gospel as she spoke about redemption, the message of the cross. That is what faithful living will produce in a Christian's life...it will proclaim Christ and His redemption so that others will know.