Luke 24:28-29,KJV: "And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and He made as though He would have gone further.
But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them."
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God is so immense and omnipresent that "the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain [Him]" (1 Ki. 8:27), yet the Bible makes it clear that He does want believers to "constrain" Him, as the KJV puts it. That word doesn't mean that we can somehow lasso, shackle, or tie Him up of course, but that He wants us to be so spiritually hungry to know Him, His truth, and His ways better that we will "strongly urge", "beg", or "passionately induce" Him to bless us with a greater revelation of Himself.
In the above passage, the resurrected Christ had joined Himself to two disciples as they were walking to Emmaus. It should not surprise us that it was while they were talking about Jesus and the two Marys' report of His empty tomb (vs.8-9,& 14) that Jesus drew near and talked with them. Where and whenever 2-3 disciples are gathered together in His Name, He is present (Mt.18:20). At first they did not even recognize Jesus, but as He "expounded to them in all the [Old Testament] Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (vs.27), they felt their "hearts burning within them" (vs.32), and were hungry for more! But a funny thing happened when they came near to their destination; Jesus "made as though" (KJV) or "indicated" (NKJV) or "acted as though" (NASB) He would have gone further on (vs.28). Fortunately for them, those disciples' desire gave them the Holy Spirit-motivated boldness to "constrain" Him to stay with them longer, so He did.
Beloved, God wants us present day believers also to be so hungry for Him and His Word that we will in a humble, yet appropriately bold manner, "constrain" Him to remain present with us until we receive the blessing, revelation, deeper relationship with Him, or any other provision that He has promised us in His Word, and prompted our hearts to expect!
Heavenly Father, please cause us all to be so persistently desirous of Your best and highest purposes for our lives that we will avoid being like the Shulamite woman, who hesitated to respond to her Lover's knocking on her door, causing Him to temporarily withdraw (S.S.5:2-6), but will instead be like Jacob, who constrained the Man who wrestled with him and would not let Him go until He blessed him (Gen.32:26).
In Jesus Name, Amen!
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