June 30, 2013
Scripture:
Hymn 201 - When we walk with the Lord Prayer
2 Kings 8:1 - 6
This was the woman whose son Elisha had raised from the dead; it’s the same Shunamite woman who built a room for Elisha to stay in. Elisha told her to move her family because there was a famine coming. Elisha was the man of God at this time and God told him what was going to happen. Read Amos 4:3.
It is possible that this woman was a window. I don’t know if Elisha would have talked to her that way if she was married. Elisha was able to direct her and so the Lord is able to direct us through His word. Read Proverbs 3: 5 & 6. In our hymn we sang of going where the Lord directs us. The woman trusted Elisha and moved to Philistia. She followed Elisha’s direction and there was blessing.
They lived in Philistia for seven years and then returned to Israel. When they returned, she went to the king to ask for her property back. When she got there, Elisha’s former servant Gehazi was talking with the king. He was telling the king stories of the great things that Elisha had done. Gehazi recognized the woman and told how Elisha gave her a child when she was not able to have children. The woman was able to confirm the truth of the story and the king gave her back her property.
Today, things like that would be called coincidental, but the Lord is the One that orders and directs everything. May this encourage us to seek the Lord for direction.
Luke 24:13-35
For us Christians, the fact that our Lord rose from the dead is a happy thought; but that first day of the week wasn’t a happy day for everybody. You see, not all of Jesus’ followers were convinced that He had risen from the dead, even though He had explained that He would break the power of death. This was a victory, not a defeat! But not all saw that.
These two on the road to Emmaus were apparently going home. Even with their consternation, depression, and bad attitude, “Jesus Himself drew near”. That’s precious. Things in our lives don’t go unnoticed by our Lord.
It wasn’t right to go back to Emmaus, because the Lord had told His followers that He would meet them after His resurrection. These men felt betrayed, though, because they had expected Jesus to deliver them from Rome, and then watched as the Romans crucified Him.
This chapter has a lot of opened things: an opened tomb, opened hearts, opened eyes, opened scriptures, and an opened heaven. But Cleopas and his friend’s eyes weren’t opened yet. They were held so that they couldn’t see. Often our eyes are held, and we don’t know why God is allowing something to happen. We have Jesus’ words from John 13, though, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” We also have Romans 8:28, assuring us that all things work together for good for those who love God, even if we don’t understand how. We don’t always see the end at the beginning. As the poem says:
Not ’til the loom is silent And the shuttles cease to fly Shall God unroll the canvas And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needed In the Weaver’s skillful hand As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern He has planned.
God has a plan and He will work it out. We can trust Him.
Jesus started the conversation with these fellows with an open-ended question; a question that demanded more than a “yes” or “no”. “What makes you so sad?” Cleopas answered the question with a question, which just served to show his ignorance. “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” He didn’t realize that “the things” happened to the One he was talking to! Jesus continued to probe with the question, “What things?”
These disciples made some mistakes, but one good thing about them is that they were talking about the Lord. They didn’t appear to realize that Jesus was the Son of God, though. They saw Him as a prophet, mighty in word and deed; but didn’t yet realize His greatest act of power.
In verse 20, Cleopas summed up in one sentence the worst thing that mankind has ever done. They had trusted that Jesus would redeem Israel, but were looking for that redemption too early. Israel’s redemption is still future, and will not only include the Gentiles but the whole realm of creation.
Redemption always comes at a price. Cleopas and his friend were talking the One that had paid the price for their redemption; in fact they had seen Him paying that price. It was paid through His blood, on the cross. 1 Peter 1:18-19. Jesus had died to redeem them! They had expected His redemption to be by power and not by blood; and there was power: the resurrection.
These two felt that they had the right to be sad, lonely, depressed, and betrayed. They felt that Jesus should have redeemed Israel. Now it had been three days since He had died, His body was missing (it was in front of them!), and some of their women said that He was alive. (They thought they were hallucinating, but Peter and John had checked the grave and found it as the women said.) With all this, why shouldn’t they be miserable?
It’s interesting to watch the Lord dealing with these men. He dealt with the woman at the well similarly, asking questions to stir her up and open her heart.
Hymn 333 – Come to the Saviour, make no delay
Prayer