Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: "Apostle Tom" <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:21:52 -0500
To: pressingon@hotmail.com
Subject: Morning Manna for Apr. 20 & 21
HELLO AGAIN, PILGRIM:
Greetings once again in Jesus' Precious Name! As always I pray you're
continuing to grow in God's grace and moving deeper in His life and love.
I'll be out-of-pocket e-mail-wise the next couple of days, so am sending the
next two days' "Morning Manna" to you in one mailing. May the Lord Jesus
continue using them to minister to you. Take care. God bless you.
In Jesus' Incomparable Love,
Bro. Tom
Morning Manna (Apr. 20); BP: Jn. 20:19-25; RBTTY: Lk. 16; II Sam. 12-13
April 20 “Our Serendipitous Savior”
“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the
doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, ‘Peace be unto you.’
And, when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then
were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.”
John 20:19-20
When we least expect Him, He shows up.
No doubt the arrival of the two out-of-breath disciples from Emmaus
that night somewhat alarmed the disciples huddled in that room behind locked
doors. They’d just sent them on their way earlier in the afternoon and
never expected to see them back so soon (Lk. 24:13). And, they certainly
weren’t prepared for what the overly-excited, highly-animated disciples had
to say:
“The Lord is risen indeed! And has appeared to Simon!!” (Lk. 24:34).
No doubt the shocked co-laborers stared in astonishment and asked,
“What? What did you say?!?”
And, it was about that very moment when suddenly. . .out of nowhere. .
.Jesus appeared in their midst. There was no knock at the door. There was
no tapping at one of the windows. Suddenly, He was there—right in the
middle of the room!
Why, you’d thought they’d seen a ghost—so great was their fright and
amazement.
Perhaps that’s why He quickly said, “Peace be unto you” and then showed
them His pierced hands and side. Fear has a way of quenching faith,
especially when it comes upon us suddenly; thus, Jesus’ offering them some
tangible, visible “proof” of His identity was intended to calm them down,
along with His words of peace.
Jesus’ appearing in their midst was just as sudden as His earlier
departure from the supper table in Emmaus. Was He engaged in some type of
spiritual cat-n-mouse game with them? Was He delighting in seeing their
faces at such actions? Or, was He preparing them for the time when He’d
return Home and His Holy Spirit would be their Unseen Partner as they went
into all the world?
It really doesn’t matter, does it?
No, not really. What does matter is our Lord is a “Serendipitous
Savior”—i.e., one that has a way of coming to us in our hour of need in some
very unexpected, unusual and unanticipated ways. Simply put, He’s not a God
we can put in a box or One Who is predictable and easily summonsed by some
rote ritual or religious formula.
Instead, as He told Nicodemus that night He is “like the wind” (Jn.
3:8). We can’t see the wind, though we can see its moving through the
boughs of a tree. We can’t catch the wind, though we can feel it brushing
against our cheek or cooling our brow. We can’t control the wind, but we
can avail ourselves of its power in moving a sailboat across a lake,
generating electricity or pumping water. And, so it is with our Savior.
There are times when we think He’s far away; but, then, quietly—almost
imperceptibly—we feel Him “brush up against us” and know all is well.
Hallelujah!! What a Savior!!
Morning Manna (Apr. 22); BP: Jn. 20:26-29; RBTTY: Lk. 17:1-19; II Sam. 14-15
April 22 “Lord, I Believe”
“And after eight days again His disciples were within and Thomas was with
them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and
said, ‘Peace be unto you.’ Then said He to Thomas, ‘Reach here your finger
and behold My hands. And reach here your hand and thrust it into My
side—and be not faithless, but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said
unto Him, ‘My Lord and my God.’ Jesus said unto him, ‘Thomas, because you
have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed’.”
John 20:26-29
He has a way of meeting us where we are and moving us to where we need
to be.
Those eight days from the first time Jesus appeared to His disciples
until today’s Manna must have seemed like an eternity to Thomas. He felt so
“left out” as the other disciples “compared notes” about Jesus’ appearance
to them. How he regretted not having been present that night (v.24) and
longed to see his Savior firsthand.
Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus once again suddenly appeared
in their midst—and once again said the same words to them that He’d said the
first time (vv.19-21). Such was the nature of this Prince of Peace.
However, it’s quite possible He reduplicated His greeting more for the sake
of Thomas than the others.
It’s also interesting that our Lord immediately focused His attention
on Thomas during that appearance. He knew what he’d said eight days ago
(v.25). He knew his insistence on seeing and touching His hands and side.
That’s why He said what He did when He stood before this startled Apostle.
But, the weeping “Twin” didn’t need to touch those still-tender wounds.
The sight of his Risen Lord caused him to give the cry of the ages: “My
Lord and my God!” For Thomas, Jesus was no longer a great Teacher or
“mighty prophet in word and deed” (Lk. 24:19); instead, He was “HIS Lord and
HIS God.” Hallelujah!!
Oh, dear Pilgrim, when Christ really “comes alive” in our own lives, He
becomes both a personal and powerful Reality for us. No longer do we need
someone to tell us about Him, what He’s done for us or what He can do for
us, etc. A thousand times no! Instead, we can boldly stand and declare
with great confidence, “This is what Jesus has done in my life—and I know He
can do it in yours too!”
How wonderful it is when we can say “The Lord is MY Shepherd; I shall
not want” (Ps. 23:1) or “The Lord is MY Light and MY Salvation; whom shall I
fear? The Lord is the Strength of MY life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps.
27:1). That’s what enabled Paul to say, “. . .for I know Whom I have
believed and am persuaded (Grk. ‘peitho’—‘convinced, to rely upon, be
assured of, have confidence in, etc.’) that HE IS ABLE to keep that which
I’ve committed unto Him against that day” (II Tim. 1:12b).
Jesus’ response to Thomas’ confession of faith is a beautiful one:
“Because you’ve seen Me, you’re blessed; but even more blessed are those who
haven’t seen Me and yet believe.” May the Lord help us today to be one of
these “blessed believers.”
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