Episode #349 Confused but Not Alone – How to Bring Your Feelings to God

As I look around the world today, I am largely confused. There is mixed and convoluted information. It's hard to know who to believe and what's accurate in what we see in the news. There is so much oppression and unrest and spun stories slanted to favor different people over others. And it is that way on every side that you can imagine. And so as I come to the Lord to pray about what I see going on in our nation and in the world, I often just feel confused. “God, I want to act. I want to pray according to your will. Show me what to do. This is all so confusing.”

So the emotion that we're drawing close to God with today is confusion, and the good news is that God meets us in the middle of it. The hard news is that the way he meets us in it is not always with clarity and understanding. I wanna read for us a passage from John chapter 20, and this is after Jesus has died and resurrected from the dead. Picking it up in verse 19. It says:

"On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit." (John 20:19-22)

The disciples were in a locked room because they were afraid for their lives. Jesus had not yet appeared to them like this, and in this moment, he appears and he doesn't answer questions. He doesn't explain everything to them that has happened or that's going to happen. He doesn't even tell them all of the steps that they're gonna need to go through to walk out the calling he's given them.

There are no answers really offered to these disciples. But he does offer them peace. He comes to them with his presence and he offers them peace, twice. He says, “I'm sending you out.” And he's saying, “And you're not gonna go alone. You're gonna have the Holy Spirit” in this place of confusion where they're afraid. Where there's all of these questions that are likely right at the tip of their tongue, Jesus doesn't give them more understanding. He doesn't give them clarity to wipe away any of the confusion that they have. He offers them peace and he offers them his presence, and fortunately he offers the same to us today.

We can receive his peace, which is beyond understanding, and we can move through life with his presence with us guiding us, reminding us of what he has said, empowering how we live because he has given us the Holy Spirit.

I do sometimes wish that he would give us more clarity, that he would give us more understanding, and sometimes he does. But in my experience where I can be first motivated to come to God for clarity, “Lord, give me instruction, give me direction. Give me action steps,” he first invites me to come to him to be in his presence and to receive the peace that he offers before I have the understanding.

And so that's the invitation that I offer to you today. I don't know what is going on in your world that is confusing. I'm guessing there's probably multiple things, but even before the clarity comes, even before the answers, the direction, the instruction, God is with you and he can share his peace with you as he's present with you in the midst of your circumstance.

And so don't skip over that rich, incredible, miraculous gift, just seeking the answers. Instead, let's draw close to him even in the confusion.

And here's a question you can ask him today:

God, what can it look like for me to remain close to you even without clarity?

Have a good talk

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