READING: 2 Samuel 14-15, Luke 24:1-35
I have favorite preachers who make me want to listen when they explain the Word. Their insights are keen, and their applications are powerful. They speak with clarity and conciseness, strength and conviction, and passion and power. Whether I hear them live or on the Internet, I listen intently.
None of their preaching, though, can compare to Jesus’ explaining the Word like He did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t fully understand all that He taught them, but they recognized that something was different when He spoke. Can you imagine listening to Jesus explain Himself in the Old Testament, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets” (Luke 24:27)? The words must have been convicting and enlightening: in fact, the disciples said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”(Luke 24:32). God thus began to open their hearts as they listened to the Redeemer expound the Scriptures.
That same type of burning ought to occur in our own hearts when we hear God speak to us through His Word in the power of the Spirit. His Word ought to amaze us, turning us from our sin and leading us toward Him. It ought to both feed our souls and make us hunger for more at the same time. If that’s not what’s happening as you read God’s Word, ask Him to help you hear it more clearly today.
PRAYER: “God, make my heart burn for You and Your Word.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Review and catch-up day
