“Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He walked with us?”  Luke 24:32 

On the day that Jesus’s tomb was found empty, two men were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  They were both disciples of Jesus and were in deep discussion about the report they’d heard that Jesus was alive.  Incredulous, while simultaneously grieving, they wondered how it could possibly be true.  To hope seemed reckless.

At that moment, Jesus appeared and started to walk with them.  He challenged their unbelief about the resurrection and began to remind them of some Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah’s life, death, and rise to glory.  His words were dynamic but they didn’t yet recognize their walking companion. It was only as Jesus was about to leave that their spirits woke up somehow and they begged Him to stay longer.  As He broke bread with them, their eyes were opened and then He disappeared from their sight.  They looked at each other and said.  “We should have known.  Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He walked with us?”

It’s an awful feeling when you realize you missed something beautiful.  Someone life-altering.  I have failed to recognize more than a few God encounters throughout my life.  There were subtle fingerprints but, like the travelers to Emmaus, I only saw them after the fact.  I’m learning to wake up when my spirit starts to stir in the presence of Holy.   I’m alert when my heart begins to ache and burn.  I know now that this is one of the effects of Him stirring in my presence.

David speaks of these encounters best, I think.  “My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned.”  Psalm 39:3.   Oh yes!  And then Jesus said of his cousin, John the Baptist, “John was a lamp that burned and gave light.”  John 5:35.   John had never been blind to his cousin’s identity.  He recognized that Jesus was in his vicinity even while in his mother’s womb.

Thirty years later, as He saw Jesus approach from afar, He quickly identified Him as the  Lamb of God.  Whenever Jesus was anywhere near him, I imagine every encounter a supernatural one.   His heart was not dulled to the one he was born to serve.

I want to fully wake up from all vestiges of a life-long religious stupor.

 Make me more like John.  Make the intangibles of Your presence more real than my tangible world today.  I’m awake and watching for You!  Amen