Luke 24. It’s just after sunrise and the foghorn sounds again, echoing its mournful cry across the bay. I live along the Florida Gulf Coast and February mornings are often shrouded in dense fog. I can barely see 100 yards offshore. The foghorn sounds again. Somewhere out there in the mist there is a harbor pilot guiding an enormous container ship through the winding channel in the bay. I cannot see it at all. I cannot see the island I know is there, or the condo buildings across the way. I cannot even see the end of the dock as it stretches out into the fog. Yet, in a couple of hours, the fog will lift and everything will be clear.

The foghorn sounds again as I am reading about the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus (24:13-34). The resurrected Jesus walked with them, yet they talked to him for hours before finally recognizing him when he broke the bread at dinner and gave it to them. “And then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” (24:31) A bit later they gathered the rest of the disciples to share about how they had seen the resurrected Jesus, and Jesus himself appeared again. “But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.” (24:37) The disciples struggled to comprehend how Jesus could be standing among them, “… they disbelieved for joy” (24:41).

Sometimes walking with Jesus feels like walking in a dense fog. There are things we know to be true, but we are slow to grasp how they fit together or how they are relevant in the moment. Like the disciples, we struggle to remember what we heard previously. We want to have crystal clear days where we can see everything that is out there and which way the ship is going. Instead, we sometimes have days that are shrouded in fog and nothing is clear. I know there is an island out there across the bay, I have seen it a million times – but yesterday and today I have not been able to see it. Did the island cease to exist? Of course not, just because I cannot see it does not mean anything has changed.

As the resurrected Jesus was speaking to his disciples, “… he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (24:45). This is my prayer for myself and all of us, that Jesus through the Holy Spirit would open our minds to understand the scriptures – that the spiritual fog would lift so that we would be able to see clearly. When we come into seasons of fog, where we cannot see clearly, I pray we would remember what we know to be true, so we are not disoriented by the lack of clarity. V. Raymond Edman, the President of Wheaton College once said, “Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.” Do not allow a temporary darkness or fog to cause trouble or doubt in your heart.

Do you lack clarity or direction? Are you experiencing a season of fog? What do you know to be true, but are struggling to embrace? Pray that the Lord would open your eyes to understand the scriptures and to recognize Jesus in the moment.

What stood out to you from Luke 24?