The couple with Jesus on the road to Emmaus were, we are told, “kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). Isn’t that an intriguing phrase? It’s not just that Jesus was being coy and gentle, “telling it slant” so that they didn’t recognize him—it’s that they couldn’t recognize him. Something was keeping them from seeing the very thing right before their eyes. Why would this be? What on earth is going on? It seems to me that there are three possible explanations, each one relevant to us as we seek to learn to discern God’s whisper. They are distracted physiologically, psychologically, and
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