During our lifetime, our triumphs and achievements are tempered by our failures and disappointments. Everything in our life has its seasons. And as the song reminds us, “… along with the sunshine, there must be a little rain sometimes …”

Our faith and belief in Jesus Christ is not tested when we march along life’s victory path, basking in the accolades of our fellowmen, but it can be severely dented when we are at the receiving end of life’s blows.

At these moments, when we touch the troughs in life’s ocean, it is essential to hold fast to our faith and belief, and not walk away from our failures and disappointments, like the two followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

On the very day of Christ’s victory over death, these two persons walked away from Jerusalem, the scene of His crucifixion, an event that put to rest their ill-conceived hopes of Israel’s freedom from the Roman yoke (Lk 24 : 21). They believed in Jesus, but they could not accept His resurrection, and certain other things foretold in the Scriptures.

In times of defeats, failures and disappointments, most of us fail to rise above our hurts, pain and tears, to be aware that Jesus is still with us. Like the two on the road to Emmaus, we still believe in Jesus, but our faith is weakened so much by our failures and disappointments that we fail to recognize Him (Lk 24 : 16).

It was only when Jesus explained to His two followers what the Scriptures said about Him, right from the beginning of time (Genesis), that their eyes were opened, they recognized Him, and immediately returned to Jerusalem, to rejoin the disciples gathered there (Lk 24 : 31 – 33).

Therefore, when failures and disappointments come our way, we need to increase our faith and belief by turning to the Scriptures. The Word of God will ignite a fire within us, to increase our spirituality to a level that allows us to recognize Jesus totally in our life, and cry out to Him for help.

Although He knows our problems, the Lord never forces Himself upon us. On reaching Emmaus, Jesus indicated that He was going farther, but remained with His followers only because they insisted on His company (Lk 24 : 28 – 29).

The Lord waits for us to ask Him to solve our problems, and only when we place them totally into His hands does He respond instantly to mitigate our failures and disappointments.