A Cure For Disappointment - Two Men Of Emmaus

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:32

Someone once anonymously wrote about the ultimate source of encouragement: “If I look at myself, I am depressed. If I look at those around me, I am often disappointed. If I look at my circumstances, I am discouraged. But if I look at Jesus, I am constantly, consistently, and eternally fulfilled!”

Depressed. Disappointed. Discouraged. Those words only begin to describe how Jesus’ disciples felt during those days after he died on the cross. They had put so much hope in this Man, believing him to be the long-awaited Messiah that God had promised centuries before.

Now he was gone, and with him went all hope of better things.

Luke records an account of two despondent disciples. These men lived in Emmaus, a town about seven miles from Jerusalem, where their hopes for a better life had vanished three days earlier. Into this pit of despair stepped Jesus.

The men didn’t instantly recognize Jesus as he walked next to them on their trek back to Emmaus. Yet they felt mesmerized by his discourse about what had happened and what it all meant.

At just the right moment, Jesus revealed himself to them. When he disappeared from their sight, he took with him all the pain, despair, and disappointment that had been their constant companions over the previous three days.

As long as these two men spent their days looking at themselves, at others, and at their circumstances, they felt nothing but hopelessness. When they looked at Jesus—the resurrected, once-dead-but-now-alive Jesus—they remembered his promises, and hope that he really was the One they had been hoping for flamed anew.

Their disappointment, despair, and discouragement vanished for good, for despite whatever heartaches lay ahead for them, they had seen Jesus!

How do you handle discouragement? When you face situations that leave you feeling depressed, disappointed, and discouraged, look to Jesus. He left the glories of heaven to live on earth, die on a cross, and rise from the grave so that you could enjoy the abundant life he came to bring you.