Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Road to Emmaus

All of us have trying times in our lives where we wonder what God has planned for us. I'd like to try to compare some of these things with the disciples' experience on the road to Emmaus with the Savior. This story is in Luke 24 in the New Testament, and its where the Resurrected Lord walks with two of His disciples along the road to Emmaus, but they cannot perceive it is Him. These are my thoughts:

It is difficult to imagine the difficulty the disciples must have had in understanding the Lord’s death and resurrection, let alone having the faith to accept that He was going to die and then rise again on the third day after His death. I think the account of the disciples encounter with the Lord shows how trying this was for them: “But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel …” (Luke 24:21). Sometimes when life becomes difficult for me, I also wonder at the promises that I have received, and sometimes I also think of how I trusted that things should happen differently. Just like the disciples had reasons for hope – that the Lord had appeared to the two Marys and that Peter and John had found the empty tomb – I also always have some reasons to hope and continue believing despite everything to the contrary. Also, when my prayers don’t seem to be answered it is usually exactly what is happened to the disciples of Jesus: I’m not understanding what the Lord is doing, not that He isn’t doing anything. I thought the answer would be something other than what the answer is, and I have narrowed my focus to just that answer and so I blind myself to the other evidences of God’s love and mercies. I know that the Lord answers prayers and keeps every promise. I should not doubt but instead I should look for different answers and more reasons for hope.

No comments: