Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Still Living in Despair? | The Gospels | Luke 24:13–35

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

Do you wish your circumstances were different? Ever wondered why God wasn't doing what you expected? Or struggled to see his presence in the middle of disappointment? In today's episode, Tanya shares how Luke 24:13–35 reveals that hope is found when we see our lives through the truth of the resurrection and recognize the Savior walking beside us. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Luke 24:13–35

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Eric and I stood on the other side of the mirrored window, and we could see Braden still crying in Sheriff Jack's arms, not just crying, but whaling. It had been less than two minutes since we dropped him off in the church nursery, but I was beside myself wanting to rescue him from his misery. Braden can see us standing there in the hallway, watching him cry through the glass. but Jack, presiding sheriff and decades-long nursery volunteers certainly could. His eyes were trained to see through the glass. Unlike the infants, he and his wife rocked and fed for an hour while their parents went supposedly to church.

Seeing us standing there like two newbie parent goofballs, he waved us on, go, he mouthed, he's going to be fine. There's nothing like watching your child go through hard things. This was only the beginning. But staying in the nursery was good for all of us. Braden learned that there were people besides me who could come for him, and I learned the same. Now imagine that you're on the other side of the window. Imagine the ways you feel alone.

Where do you feel despair? If I could just get to the other side of this. If I just didn't have to keep going through this, if someone could just help me. At the end of the Gospel of Luke, we come across two disciples experiencing deep despair, wondering why things haven't turned out the way they hoped, why they can't be different, wondering why their lives aren't different. We're in Luke chapter 24, verses 13 to 25, and heading in your Bible is on the road to Emmaus.

I'm just going to read to you a little bit from this passage. It says, now that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, what are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked him,

Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened here in three days? What things he asked? about Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priest and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us.

They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of vision of angels who said he was alive, then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said, but they did not see Jesus. He said to them, how foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Why were these two disciples in so much despair? I mean, they had Jesus right there in their midst. You know, Jesus picture them, like their eyes are looking down at the road, and they're charging along, and they're like, well, first this, and then this happened, and then this. but they're so stuck in that despair that they can't see what's around them.

I think we can all relate to that. But let's just look at this passage and think about why these two disciples are in so much despair. Well, first of all, they still didn't believe the resurrection was real. Without the resurrection, we are living by a leap in the dark. When does oppression end? Where does light overcome the dark reality of violence? But Jesus has risen, and like we say at least, Easter, back to the pastor, he has risen indeed. What if he has risen indeed? How does that change our

circumstances? How does that inform our hope? Well, they were also in despair because Jesus was in their midst and they didn't recognize him. Luke tells us that they were kept from recognizing him. Jesus could be in your life right now and you might not see him. You could be walking around downcast while Jesus is right there, extraordinarily ordinary, present in a person or in the hard thing that you are carrying. They invited him in, and then their eyes were opened. Are you looking for Jesus? Are you inviting him into the thing that's giving you so much despair? Finally, they were looking for a different kind of Savior. Did you notice that in their words? They wanted out of their circumstances. They wanted freedom from the trouble brought on by rulers and governments.

But they needed more than that, and so do we. We don't just need freedom from difficult circumstances. Like them, we can be enslaved by the things that we love more than Jesus, the things we look to for rescue instead of Jesus. We need freedom from those addictions too. At the end of this, a counter on the road to Emmaus, what does Jesus do? He opens the word and he walks them into a passage, enables them to discover the truth and to find Jesus himself, and there's a realization that he is in their midst, and he's warming their hearts to receive him. So what if the resurrection is real?

What if devastation is not the end of the story? What if despair is not the way you're called to live? Take to heart this promise from John 812. Jesus said, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Are you opening your mind to scripture? Are you memorizing it or writing it down or keeping it in your heart in a way that you're letting scripture push back against the feeling that you're alone? Will you open your heart to receive the comfort of the one who has rescued you?

Lord, we often get so tangled in the doing that we forget that the resurrection is real. We feel like the world is on our shoulders because we forget that you have overcome the world. Lord, he has risen. You have risen. You have risen indeed. Let us see our lives through the truth of the resurrection. Amen.