We need something warm and sunny here on the east coast today. It’s been cloudy and steady rain for over a week now and there’s much more to come this weekend according to those meteorologists.
It’s a cold, rainy day so I pulled out some pictures from our trip out west this past summer to look at some sunny, warm places we visited. I’m taken back to Colorado when we had set up camp along a lake after a thunderstorm. After the storm passed, it was just in time for us to not only see a rainbow but also to view this beautiful sunset from our campground.
Even though it was the middle of June, it was still cool in the evenings and night when you’re camping outside on top of the Rocky Mountains. (Or should I say cold? It got down to 38* that night in a tent!) But before the sun crawled behind the mountains, its rays felt so warm like it was sinking in my skin. While experiencing this beautiful event, I also felt as if the warmth of the Spirit of the Son was there with me.
Maybe it was similar to the way two men walking to Emmaus felt one day. News had traveled through the area that a man named Jesus, who claimed to be Messiah, was alive and no longer in the grave. Mary and Mary had gone to Jesus’ tomb early that morning and ran back to say that two angels told them Jesus was alive! How in the world can that be?
As they were talking back and forth, another man showed up beside them and wondered what they were talking about. “You must be from out of town,” they told him. “How can you not know what everyone’s been talking about and witnessing this past week? Jesus, the Man from Nazareth, who claims to be Messiah was arrested, condemned and crucified. Now people are saying he’s alive.” (I wonder if they said, “God only knows!”)
As they walked along, this stranger quoted many Scriptures that went all the way back from Moses, prophets and psalms about a Savior who was coming and how he’d be crucified and come back to life. Those two men just listened.
Well, later that evening the three of them sat down for a meal together and this stranger they picked up on their walk, reached out, poured wine and broke the bread for them to share. As soon as he did that, the two other men’s eyes suddenly realized they were sitting with Jesus himself who had been walking on the road with them. As soon as they realized this, Jesus disappeared.
Then “they began telling each other how their hearts had felt strangely warm as he talked with them and explained the Scriptures during the walk down the road.” (Luke 24:32 TLB)
I can only imagine the strange feeling of warmth in their heart. Did they feel it but didn’t say anything about it? Probably not because they didn’t know quite how to explain it since they had never felt it before.
It was a burning in their heart as this phrase is used these days. A burning in their hearts to know Scripture better. A burning in their hearts to talk with Jesus. A burning in their heart to run and tell others about a conversation they had with Jesus.
Has that “strangely warm” feeling run through you? I hope so. I personally think it’s one of the best feelings to have.
{If you’d like to read more of this God Only Knows series, come on over here}