Evening, October 29

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"But their eyes were holden that they should not know him."

  Luke 24:16

   The disciples ought to have known Jesus, they had heard his voice so
   often, and gazed upon that marred face so frequently, that it is
   wonderful they did not discover him. Yet is it not so with you also?
   You have not seen Jesus lately. You have been to his table, and you
   have not met him there. You are in a dark trouble this evening, and
   though he plainly says, "It is I, be not afraid," yet you cannot
   discern him. Alas! our eyes are holden. We know his voice; we have
   looked into his face; we have leaned our head upon his bosom, and yet,
   though Christ is very near us, we are saying "O that I knew where I
   might find him!" We should know Jesus, for we have the Scriptures to
   reflect his image, and yet how possible it is for us to open that
   precious book and have no glimpse of the Wellbeloved! Dear child of
   God, are you in that state? Jesus feedeth among the lilies of the word,
   and you walk among those lilies, and yet you behold him not. He is
   accustomed to walk through the glades of Scripture, and to commune with
   his people, as the Father did with Adam in the cool of the day, and yet
   you are in the garden of Scripture, but cannot see him, though he is
   always there. And why do we not see him? It must be ascribed in our
   case, as in the disciples', to unbelief. They evidently did not expect
   to see Jesus, and therefore they did not know him. To a great extent in
   spiritual things we get what we expect of the Lord. Faith alone can
   bring us to see Jesus. Make it your prayer, "Lord, open thou mine eyes,
   that I may see my Saviour present with me." It is a blessed thing to
   want to see him; but oh! it is better far to gaze upon him. To those
   who seek him he is kind; but to those who find him, beyond expression
   is he dear!