Now more than ever, it seems believers have trouble being still. We find it hard to get quiet in this high-tech age where we’re surrounded by a bedlam of voices that attack us and clamor for our attention.
Of all the places mentioned in the Bible, the road to Emmaus is among those I cherish most. I’ve always loved to read about what happened there 2,000 years ago on the afternoon of Jesus’ resurrection.

The events of that day have become so familiar to me that I can almost see the dusty, well-worn road as it must have looked back then—wide and washed in Middle Eastern sunshine. I can almost hear the voices of the two sorrow stricken disciples who walked it together, shoulders sagging and eyes bloodshot from grief, talking in hushed tones about the painful events of the previous days. I can feel their loneliness and desolation as they struggled to comprehend the fact that Jesus, their beloved Master and friend, was gone.

What I like to envision most, of course, is the moment when their twosome became a threesome. The moment when, as Luke 24:15-16 says:

They were conversing and discussing together, [and] Jesus Himself caught up with them and was … accompanying them. But their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize Him” (Amp.).

The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly how long the disciples walked alongside the incognito Jesus that day, but it must have been a while. Long enough to hear Him explain and interpret—beginning with Moses and the Prophets—“in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself” (v. 27). Long enough for the day to dissolve into evening. Long enough for the disciples to reach their destination and beg Him to stay and have dinner with them.

My, what an intimate time of fellowship with the Master that must have been! No multitudes crowded around to hear the Lord’s revelations. No ministry hustle and bustle interrupted the conversation. It was just Jesus and a couple of His followers sharing a day of quiet, private fellowship.

There’s an old hymn (you probably remember it) that says:

I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear falling on my ear the Son of God discloses.
And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.

I think that’s what it must have been like for the two disciples on the Emmaus road. Even before they recognized Jesus, they sensed something supernatural happening inside them as He spoke.

And it occurred that … when their eyes were [instantly] opened and they [clearly] recognized Him … He vanished (departed invisibly). And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us … the Scriptures?
(vv. 31–32)

Oh, how I love that story! It always reminds me that if we, like those disciples, will continue with the Lord in times of fellowship, we’ll experience the fire of His presence in our hearts. If we’ll tarry with Him instead of rushing off to do something else, we’ll receive fresh and personal revelations. We’ll see Jesus with open-eyed hearts and be forever changed.

The Road Less Traveled
That’s why, a few years ago on a prayer tour to Israel, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to walk the old Emmaus road myself. Assuming it would look much like it did in Jesus’ day, I could hardly wait to get there. But when I arrived, I was disappointed. What I found was a narrow trail, overgrown with weeds, neglected and unkempt.

The sight of it brought a conviction to my soul that’s never left me, a conviction that the entire body of Christ across the world must rediscover the spirit of the Emmaus road. We must tread again those private paths where Jesus speaks softly to our hearts until they burn inside us with holy fire. We must shut the door on the world more often and fellowship in secret with the Master.

Time and again in the Word, God calls us to that kind of quiet, contemplative, prayer. Throughout the Bible, He says things like the following:

Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while…
(Isa. 27:20)

…Those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
(Isa. 40:31)

Be still and know that I am God.
(Ps. 46:10)

Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.
(Ps. 4:4 KJV)

It’s sad to say, but for the most part, the contemporary Church has neglected to heed those instructions. They aren’t what our flesh wants to hear. The flesh likes to stay busy. It prefers to “Go! Hurry up! Get moving!” even when the Holy Ghost is telling us to “Pull back! Stop! Be quiet before the Lord for a while!”

Now more than ever, it seems believers have trouble being still. We find it hard to get quiet in this high-tech age where we’re surrounded by a bedlam of voices that attack us and clamor for our attention. Times have changed since the Emmaus road days. But God hasn’t. He’s still calling us to Himself, to find a place of prayer where we can turn away from all the competing distractions and focus our hearts upon Him alone.
Excerpted from the newsletter Prayer Notes by Lynne Hammond Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.