God Loves Clueless Losers

“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” Genesis 28:16

I like to feel smart, cool, and like I know what’s going on. There’s security that comes from being “in the know.” My issue is that I often have no idea what’s going on. I have ADHD, and my mind goes in all kinds of directions at once, so that’s one factor that contributes to my cluelessness. I feel like the guy eating a popsicle in this clip from Brooklyn 99 (one of my favorite TV shows).

The Great (CJ) Siege | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Comedy Bites

As much as I want to have it all together, I am more like this guy than I like to admit. 

You may be someone who does have it together. I love it when people calmly walk into a room with dignified certainty. They know exactly what’s happening, what needs to happen, and their role in making it happen. It soothes the frantic energy beating in my chest. Not that I always feel like I’m hopped up on twelve cups of coffee, but I find myself longing for the security that accompanies this kind of certainty. 

I also want to feel this way spiritually, like I know what I’m doing or what God is doing. Toward what goal am I moving? What path am I on? What is God doing in my family or my church community? As a minister and leader, people often look to me to know “the plan.” And in a way, that’s reasonable. You don’t put a guy in charge of something who has no idea what he’s doing.

But the longer I’ve led people and the longer I’ve followed Jesus, the more I’ve had to admit to myself, “What do I know, really?” I don’t mean to be overly self-deprecating or admit to some kind of skeptic agnosticism. What I mean is I speak with certainty about things I believe in, but I have often been wrong about them. 

I’ve earnestly prayed for God to let me date and marry certain women because I was sure they were the one for me (they weren’t). I’ve made firm decisions in the ministries I led because I was sure this was the right decision (it wasn’t). More recently, I’ve been distraught that someone denied me an opportunity to pursue something I was sure I needed in my life (I didn’t). 

What did I really know about any of those situations? Eventually, it came out that I knew very little. I realized that I regularly think I’m right when in reality, I’m clueless. 

Losers Who Don’t Even Know God Is There

One of the funniest episodes in the Bible is where Jesus plays undercover brother to two of his disciples after he resurrects while they are walking on the road to Emmaus. At least it's funny to me. 

Two of Jesus’ followers were walking toward Emmaus, probably about seven miles from Jerusalem.[1] On the way, someone comes up and asks what they’re talking about. They’re shocked that this man hadn’t heard about Jesus’ crucifixion and rumored resurrection. One of them, Cleopas, asks if he’s the only one in Jerusalem who didn’t know about these things (v.18). Cleopas treats this stranger like a clueless dummy. How out of it are you that you haven’t heard about this? The funny thing to me is that the stranger is Jesus, and Cleopas had no idea. So really, who’s the clueless one here?  But instead of leaving them, he stayed. He talked with them, heard them out, and then dropped some premium octane knowledge. He explained his own messiahship and how it was in accordance with the prophecies from the Old Testament. Finally, after they arrived home, they invited Jesus to stay with them and he revealed himself when they prayed for the food. 

They were clueless. Utterly clueless. To the point where they didn’t even realize who they were talking to.[2] More importantly, they didn’t recognize him as Messiah. Due to the manner of his death, they had disqualified him in their minds and hearts from being the promised deliverer and restorer of Israel. Even after hearing all of his teaching over a period of time, they didn’t understand him and his mission. 

But that didn’t disqualify them from Jesus revealing himself. They were clueless, but still worthy. Frustrating, but still deserving. 

It’s OK to Be Clueless
You may feel clueless. Aimless. Discouraged. Disappointed. Disillusioned. If you’ve been following Jesus for a while, you may think, “Shouldn’t I have figured this out by now?” Maybe. But that doesn’t make you unworthy of Jesus’ time and presence. Luke only records three episodes of Jesus post-resurrection, and this is one of them. You are in good company. 

It means that it’s ok to wander. It’s ok to feel clueless. You do not need to have it all figured it out. While your value to your job may depend on your competency, your value to Jesus does not. You may be judged in school by your performance or your job by how well you accomplish your SMART goals, but with Jesus, sometimes it’s the clueless ones who get the greatest encounters with Jesus. 

When you feel like you have it all together, there’s a sense of order (which is good), but sometimes that’s accompanied by a sense of mastery (which can be bad). Not mastery of skill, but mastery of your environment. Or another way to put it is that you have the power. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with having power; the issue comes when you forget the source of that power. The more power we accumulate, the easier it is to avoid God. You don’t need divine power because you’ve got it covered. You don’t need divine revelation because you’re sure you’ve figured out this one. 

So often, I walked into situations and quickly put on a mask of competency over my clueless reality. As a minister, people sometimes asked me questions I could not speak credibly about, but I tried to anyway. I wanted to look like I had it together but probably looked more clueless. 

Stay Close

You may not have it all together and that’s ok. God loves clueless Losers. In the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 Jesus told this story:

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:10–14.

It’s not the man who knew he was right that was closest to God, it was the guy who knew he needed the most help. 

If you’re feeling clueless, aimless, disappointed, or disillusioned, don’t turn away from God. Stop reading. Put down your phone. And tell God you feel clueless. Admit your powerlessness. As you go along your day, stay close to him. Jesus didn’t remove himself from the clueless ones on the road to Emmaus and they didn’t remove themselves from him. They didn’t even know it, but they stayed close to Jesus because they heard truth in his words. 

Stay close, and you may find yourself in his presence, even in your cluelessness, and see what happens. God surprises us. It’s my hope that even in our most confusing places we might be able to utter this verse, like Jacob in Genesis:

Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it. Genesis 28:16. 

Notes
 [1] Perry G. Phillips, “The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ,” in Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels, ed. Barry J. Beitzel and Kristopher A. Lyle, Lexham Geographic Commentary. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), 522. There are also variants where Luke places it 160 stadia away from Jerusalem which is about 18 miles. So either way, not far, but not close either. 

To be fair, the text says “they were kept from recognizing him.” So it wasn’t ignorance that let them recognize his figure, but they clearly did not recognize him in the figurative sense as Messiah.