The month of July has extensive travel plans for ministry and family. During the month of July, I will be in Guyana, Iowa, Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, DC, Pennsylvania, and New York. I look forward to each of these trips and seeing how God will meet me “on the road” and will use me to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. It is easy during busy seasons of life to miss the places where Jesus is walking with us, but we simply do not recognize him.
In Luke 24:15-16, we read, “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” It is the day of Jesus’ resurrection and two of the followers of Jesus are walking to Emmaus. They are focused on their own confusion, misunderstanding, and grief: “What has just happened?” As they were walking on the road reminiscing, Jesus appears with them. They do not recognize him and, in normal Jesus format, he begins to ask questions and speak Truth.
Often as I am traveling, I find myself talking to Jesus a lot, but doing very little listening. I tend toward seeking to accomplish the tasks in front of me and meeting the expectations I established for the trip. It is often in the wee hours of the morning or the nighttime when I am lying down for sleep that Jesus can get my full attention. It is in those moments that Jesus makes me aware of His presence. During our recent trip to Guyana, I woke on Wednesday morning with the Lord’s voice speaking into the depths of my heart, “It’s about the people.” I had gotten overwhelmed with the details and minutia of the trip, trying to figure everything out and Jesus was pointing me back to His calling and my purpose: build relationships and point people to Jesus. In retrospect, I was aware Jesus had been speaking this reality into my heart throughout the day, as I experienced an unsettled feeling when working through the details and missing the people. I missed the voice of the Lord as I put the responsibility of connecting with the people on those I was meeting, instead of remembering my calling to connect people to Jesus and to connect to people.
It is easy to become busy in the minutia of life and the busyness of the “to-do” list that we miss the Lord speaking to us as He walks with us in our life adventure. When this busyness causes us to miss the voice of the Lord, we need to remember to stop and listen. In the story of the two men walking to Emmaus, it is when Jesus comes into their house and they slow down to eat that their eyes are open to who Jesus is when He breaks the bread. How is Jesus calling us to slow down to hear His voice? How is He calling us to listen as we walk through our life adventure, hearing His voice as we move from place to place?
Prayer: Lord, I become busy and distracted in my life. I miss your voice speaking to me and guiding me. Forgive me. Open my ears and my heart to your voice as I walk “on the road” of my life adventure. In Jesus’ name. Amen.