Opened Eyes
Today’s Verse:
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. ~Luke 24:31
Have you ever gone shopping and could not find the item you were looking for? You were in the aisle and searching the shelves for this particular item, but you could not locate it. Then, a sales assistant comes along to point it out, and you said, “How did I miss it? It was right in front of my eyes!” Jesus appeared to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus. Together, they walked 7.5 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. During the course of this journey and continuing to the house of Cleopas over a meal, Jesus spoke to them about what happened in Jerusalem and what the Scriptures had to say about Him. For all that afternoon and early evening, “they did not see it.” At the right moment, the Lord opened their eyes. These two disciples thought, “How did we miss him? He was right in front of our eyes.” When we give the Lord our undivided attention, He opens our eyes to see things that we need to change in our lives.
He opens our eyes to our ignorance.
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” The Lord has to open our eyes to see how slow we are to understand and believe His Word. We can be ignorant to God’s will for our life because we did not carefully read His Word or give heed to commandments that we should be familiar with. He called them “fools” because they should have known what the prophets had spoken, but they did not. He said that they were slow of heart to believe because they tended to be skeptical and unbelieving.
He opens our eyes to our immaturity.
The Lord shows us that we have a lot of growing that we need to do. For some of us, we need to transition from just eating the milk of the Word and start eating the meat of the Word. Spiritually immature believers cannot discern between evil and good. They have a difficult time understanding how God works through trials. Then, some of us need to learn to put away childish things. Foremost is being immature in our attitude and spirit. Signs of immaturity are holding grudges, being easily offended, being emotional hearers of the word, and having to be coddled where someone else has to do things for us when we should be doing things for ourselves. Paul said, “Quit ye, be ye like men.”
He opens our eyes to our insensitivity.
“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” We need our eyes opened to our apathy and complacency. We need to be at the place in our lives where we obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit. It is very easy for us to get used to seeing and doing the same things to the point where we are not motivated. Our hearts should burn within us when God’s Word is read and preached. When we get to the place where we are not bothered, we need the Lord to stir us again.
He opens our eyes to our inactivity.
Jesus’ resurrection appearance to His disciples was meant to stir them to being active and vocal as witnesses of His resurrection. The first thing that the angel told the women who came to the tomb was to “go and tell Peter.” When Jesus assembled with the disciples on the evening of His resurrection, He commissioned them by telling them, “As the Father hath sent me, so send I you.” We must be moved from sitting to service. We must be moved from apathy to activity. We must be moved from wondering to working.
As we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, let Him open our eyes to things that we may not be seeing.
Have an eye-opening God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: 2 Kings 6-8