He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Alleluia!

Last Sunday was Easter, the most special day of the year. It’s the day we celebrate the resurrection of our living God. It’s what makes Christianity different from all other religions. We worship the One who lives and is with us every step of the day in our lives.

The pastor’s Easter sermon came from Mark 16. It was excellent, and it caused me to think. My focus was on the 8^th verse, after the women met the angel at the tomb:

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Mark 16:8 NIV

I think the women were bewildered for two reasons. First, and most obviously, they met an angel! You don’t see one every day, so that would baffle anyone.

The second is because they were trying to understand what it all meant for them. They had just been told their Jesus, whom they had seen killed by the Romans, now lived again. Questions swirled in their minds as they tried to make rational sense of it. They wanted to “figure it all out.”

Bewildered means “deeply or utterly confused or perplexed.” If you are in a job search today, or you are struggling in your current job, you too might be bewildered. I know I am bewildered these days. I get that way when I try to “figure it all out,” when I try to have a logical and rational explanation for things that unfortunately aren’t always logical or explainable. I get bewildered when I try to peer into the future and imagine what it looks like, but I can’t.

That’s especially challenging for those looking for a job. You can’t see it, and you don’t know when it will happen. Yet you still want to try to “figure it out.”

If you knew the perfect job would be there for you in 5 months, though you might not like having to wait, knowing it’s coming would relax you. You’d figure out how to be patient. But God doesn’t show us the future — He only shows us today.

I mentioned I am also bewildered these days because I’m on a journey somewhere I’ve never been before, and it’s a little unsettling. My book, How Long, O Lord, How Long?, is a book of devotions for the unemployed, those in a career transition, and family members who need insight into what their loved one is experiencing.

There isn’t another book like it. It meets an unmet need for the 21.6 million people each year in this country who will lose a job they didn’t want to lose.

But here’s the problem: I’ve never been an author trying to bring a book to life. I don’t know what I don’t know. The process is exciting and rewarding. It’s taken me interesting places and helped me meet people I could never have imagined meeting. There has been so much good.

Yet it’s also confusing and frustrating, because the progress is never at the pace I hope for.  When that happens, I feel bewildered as I struggle to “figure it out” and try to take control.

And that’s the problem: trying to take control.

What should we do when we’re perplexed and bewildered? Let go. Stop trying to be God and let Him care for you. It’s easier said than done, but it’s what God wants. He wants us to be faithful in the steps we take each day and let Him do the rest.

What do you do when you’re bewildered? Are there any Scriptures you find comforting? Any advice you’ve found to be helpful?

Leave us a comment below … I’d love to hear from you.