Emmanuel Day 14

Emmanuel, God with us All Along

“While they were talking and discussing it, Jesus Himself came up and began walking with them. But their eyes were [miraculously] prevented from recognizing Him… and they stood still, looking brokenhearted.”

Luke 24:15-16, 17

I don’t hear well. I’m not a quick thinker. I’m not super athletic, active, or agile, and I don’t have a great memory. But, all that being said, I’ve always had better than twenty-twenty vision and have, throughout my days, for sure taken some pride in doing something well. I’ll probably try to keep hiding it for a while longer, but recently, my perfect vision has possibly started to grow a bit dark and fuzzy. I don’t need glasses yet (she said emphatically) because my arm is still able to hold things out far enough away to see, but it might be almost time to admit that small, close-up images have been a tiny bit blurry and out of focus as of late. Sigh…

I was recently on a walk with one of my daughters, expressing my dramatic woes over not being able to see better-than-perfect anymore, and she said she had just heard a Bible study that went along with what I was saying. The pastor had been talking about how, “everyone eventually loses everything.” Some lose almost everything all at once, like Job, while others just lose one thing at a time until everything is gone. I was speechless at my “sunshine-girl’s” less-than-cheery message, but unfortunately, it’s pretty close to being the truth of our earthly predicaments.

Much like the somewhat-sorrowful, reality-checking walk I was on with my daughter, we find these two men in Luke, walking toward Emmaus, immersed in their own sorrow and disillusionment. Thankfully though, our sadness never goes unnoticed by Jesus, and true to all we’ve learned of Him, Emmanuel was God with them as they walked along in their sorrow. Jesus immerses His resurrected body right alongside of them and says…

“Then Jesus asked them, “What are you discussing with one another as you walk along?” And they stood still, looking brokenhearted. One of them, named Cleopas, answered Him, “Are you the only stranger visiting Jerusalem who is unaware of the things which have happened here in these [recent] days?” He asked, “What things?” And they replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel and set our nation free. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.”

Luke 24:17-21 (AMP)

They were sad because things hadn’t turned out, worked out, or panned out in the way they hoped it would, thought it would, or wished it would. They were brokenhearted because they thought they were wrong about their supposed Redeemer. They were brokenhearted because they thought they had lost the One they hoped in. They were brokenhearted because they trusted only in what their earthly vision could see and in what their earthly minds could understand. They had no idea that the plans of God were perfectly in place, and that the very redemption they longed for was walking right along beside them. We can look back from this side of their story with the excitement of those who know these two men had no true reason to be hopeless. As we read Luke 24, it’s only a few verses later before their eyes are open to the resurrected Jesus, and they understand the plan of God’s redemption to be wider and deeper than they had ever imagined it to be. They were heartbroken because they thought the One they hoped would redeem them had died, but we know the death that broke their hearts was accomplishing the very redemption they longed for.

As these men walked hopeless to Emmaus, Jesus, Emmanuel, God was with them walking with them and declaring truth over their confused, weary, and troubled minds. Later, at the table of communion, their eyes were opened to who Jesus truly was, and they realized that Emmanuel, God with them had been with them all along. They hadn’t been forsaken, left alone, left unredeemed, or left without the goodness of God. They realized that even though they hadn’t been able to see Him in the moment, God had been with them, working out His plan of redemption, and speaking to their hearts the very words they needed to hear.  

“Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:32

Have you ever walked a difficult road, wondering why you felt so alone, only to look back years, months, or even days later, and realize that Emmanuel had been with you all along? We don’t always understand what He’s doing in the moment, but when we come to the end of that road, we’ll find that we had all the strength, joy, and peace of His presence to make it every step of the way. As the old, unclaimed quote says, “His past faithfulness demands my present trust.”

God’s past faithfulness to us and to all the generations who have gone before us is evidence that He will continue to be faithful to every heart in our generation and beyond. Every path, every journey, every mountain, every trial, every step you take; every moment of shame, pain, heartache, and heartbreak, Emmanuel, God, is with us. He has never failed us, and He will never fail us. He has always worked all things together for our good and will continue to work every detail out within our lives for His eventual glory. Even when life seems to be a bit blurry, cloudy, dark, foggy, or dim, Emmanuel, God is with us. He is the same yesterday today and forever, and we can take comfort in that truth when we feel hopeless in the blurry vision of our realities. Even when our felt-circumstances don’t seem to line up to what we thought God said, whispered, promised, or declared, we can know that Emmanuel, God with us is and will continue to be right there with us. When a little time has passed, and we look back on this particular season of life we’ll realize exactly what these two men realized after their little walk with Jesus as well. God is and was working out His plans all along, and Emmanuel walked with me through the sorrow. Even when we feel the loss of life’s natural progression and should probably just buy ourselves some glasses for Christmas, Emmanuel is right beside us, faithful to open our blurry eyes to Him.

Emmanuel; with us IS GOD