Most people celebrate the empty tomb and the day the risen King ascends to heaven… but without considering the days that linger in between.

Forty days.

Forty quiet, powerful, often overlooked days when Jesus walked among His followers—speaking, teaching, revealing, restoring.

And if we pay attention, we begin to notice… God often does His deepest work in seasons marked by that same number.

• Forty days of rain in Genesis—when the world was washed and made new.
• Forty days on the mountain in Exodus—when Moses met with God and received His commandments.
• Forty days of fasting for Elijah in 1 Kings—when strength was renewed in weakness.
• Forty days of warning in Jonah—when a city was given time to repent.
• Forty days in the wilderness in Matthew—when Jesus overcame temptation.

Again and again, forty days mark a sacred pattern:
a season of testing…
a season of repentance…
a season of transformation.

And then—after the cross, after the grave—it appears one more time.

For forty days, Jesus made Himself known.

Not in spectacle, but in presence. Not in crowds, but in conversations. On a dusty road. Behind locked doors. Around a breakfast fire.

These were not random appearances. They were invitations.
To believe.
To understand.
To move from confusion to clarity… from fear to faith… from followers to witnesses.

And here we are…
Standing in our own “in-between.” Not at the cross. Not yet at the fullness of what’s to come. But in a living, breathing space where Jesus still meets His people.

These forty days are not just something to remember—they are something to enter.

A sacred window where God gently calls us:
Come closer.
Sit with Me.
Listen again.
See Me more clearly than you did before.

Because every time God ordains a “forty,” He is not just marking time… He is shaping hearts.

A Quiet Invitation

What if these days became intentional for you? Not rushed. Not crowded. But set apart. A space to let Him speak. To let Him restore what feels uncertain. To let resurrection truth settle deeper into your soul.

Because the same Jesus who walked with them… still walks with us.

In Scripture, forty days always mark a season where God is doing something deep and intentional.

The forty days between the Resurrection and Ascension are no different—they are an invitation to draw near, to grow, and to truly encounter the risen Christ.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for meeting Your people in quiet moments, in questions, in uncertainty… and drawing them closer to You. Help me not to miss what You are doing in this season. Slow my heart. Open my eyes. Teach me to recognize Your presence in the ordinary and Your voice in the stillness. Draw me closer, Lord—not just to understand more… but to know You more. Let these days become a sacred place in my life where we meet. Amen.

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© 2026 Jan Ross
All Rights Reserved

“Sit often under the influence of God’s Word.”🌻
www.janross.org/devotions/

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