Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today let’s get a sneak peek into how surprise encounters can leave us better.

In today’s scripture, John 4:7‭, ‬25‭-‬26 (NLT), we read about a famous surprise encounter…
Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”

And in Luke 19:5, 8‭-‬10 (NLT) see someone trying to get a peak, who was surprisingly seen instead…
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”…
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Consider…
If you have ever been the recipient of a surprise party, then you know how special it makes you feel. The same great feeling may be felt when a person receives a surprise gift. There are also times that you are blessed by unexpected blessings. Have you ever thought about the fact that what’s a surprise to you is someone else’s intention?

Both of today’s scriptural passages were surprise encounters with Jesus. However, they were intentional by Him. Let’s look at them and see what we can glean about Jesus’ planned surprise encounters for our lives.

In the first passage, we pulled excerpts from the story of the woman at the well, who received an unexpected blessing of a surprise encounter with the Messiah.

And in second passage, we pulled excerpts from Zacchaeus’ inspirational story of his surprise encounter with Jesus.

Both scriptures give us some transformational insights into surprise encounters with our Savior…

• First, they’re planned by Jesus. In both stories, notice Jesus purposely went through these people’s towns. In fact, Zacchaeus’ story ends with Jesus saying, “the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” That leads me to conclude, our chance encounters with Jesus are planned by Him. 💝
• Next we see how Jesus intentionally, humbly and gently lifts up people that religious folks cast down. Recall the Samaritan woman drew water when she thought no one else would be at the well. She also questioned Jesus’ interaction with her because she was both a woman and a Samaritan, who Jews bigoted towards. And Zacchaeus’ was considered spiritually poor (a sinner), despite being financially rich. As I wrote that, the Holy Spirit flashed the first Beatitude to me, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3 KJV. This makes me conclude that encounters with Jesus are uplifting which also indicates that we must recognize our spiritual poverty to experience Him.
• The last observation for today is encounters with Jesus are transformational. We see that in the Samaritan woman’s case because this she left her encounter with Jesus, telling everyone, who she once was too ashamed to engage, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” – John 4:29 KJV. Notice, she didn’t say Jesus healed or forgave her, she said He acknowledged her rather than judged her. This makes me think of Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s song, ‘He knows my name’.
• Continuing the last observation, notice Zacchaeus’ response to His surprise encounter with Jesus. He said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”. Jesus just told him that He wanted to be his dinner guest, yet Zacchaeus was convicted and confessed that he would no longer be the same. True encounters with Jesus should elicit the same response from us. That’s how Paul exhorts us to respond in Ephesians 4:20-29.

Seeing how surprise encounters with Jesus reveal that…

• He purposely seeks us
• He intentionally lifts us
• He transforms our hearts and minds

I am able to confidently conclude that surprise encounters with Jesus leave us better than we came.

Today’s song is…
You Know My Name

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)