He Meets Us in Our Sadness (Lent 6, 2025)

Jesus comes upon the two men who are walking on the Road to Emmaus and asked them, “‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’ They stood still, their faces downcast.” (Luke 24:17)

Stop the presses! they must have thought. Someone is completely out of touch! Bad news travels fast, but this guy must have been under a rock.

Behind one, yes, almost humorously, but not the least bit out of touch. In fact, He knows it more fully than anyone what happened behind that rock. Yet He invites these two men to share their hearts, bringing to Him their disappointments and sorrows, their confusion and worry.

Principle: Jesus wants to minister in the areas of your greatest sadness.

Questions for further thought:

Why do you think they stood still when He asked that?

Jesus was crucified as an enemy of Jewish elites and political Rome. How might fear have kept them from wanting to state their discussion topic to a stranger?

How does Jesus’ omniscience as the Risen Lord allow Him to ask without invading a confidential, private, and personal pain?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for entering our world and opening opportunities for You to meet us in our pain. Thank You that You can sympathize with us because You suffered and will give comfort that You received from the Father. Correct our perspectives on pain and suffering in those areas where context is merited, grant us peace in places of confusion and unjust suffering, and in every case, give us grace in persevering. Help us to know foundationally that You cause all things to work together for the good of those love You and are called according to Your purpose. Not as some trite Christian cliche, but as truth grounded in the character of our all-wise and loving Father. Give us eyes of faith and great courage in troubling times. Amen.

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Lent began Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, and will continue until Resurrection Sunday, Easter (April 20, 2025). I hope you’ll join me and be prepared to have your eyes opened. I know mine have been in writing this series, “The Way it Had to Be.”

The author gratefully acknowledges Grok XI for assisting with this year’s pictures.
Technology can be amazing.

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2025 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
“Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.
“Seeing His Love with New Eyes” was the topic for 2024 and it explored looking at God’s love beyond the superficial and trite notions of love. They are archived beginning February 14, 2024.