"I'm supposed to have all the answers, but I don't know what to tell them."
How it sounds in your head: They come with crisis after crisis—suicide attempts, abusive marriages, prodigal children—and I'm supposed to know what to say. I don't. I feel like a fraud nodding wisely when inside I'm screaming 'I don't know either.'
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."
-- James 1:5Religion made you the ANSWER instead of pointing people to THE Answer—pressure that belongs to the Holy Spirit alone.
Seminary didn't prepare you for this level of trauma, and people look at you expecting divine wisdom you don't feel. Google doesn't have answers for the devastation sitting in your office, and saying 'I don't know' feels like failure.
Job's friends sat with him in silence for SEVEN DAYS, and that was the MOST helpful thing they did. The moment they started 'answering' his suffering with explanations, God rebuked them. Their PRESENCE was the ministry; their answers were the problem.
I REFUSE the lie that I must have all the answers. IT IS WRITTEN: If I lack wisdom, I ask God who gives LIBERALLY without shaming me—I have instant access to divine wisdom the moment I need it. I am not the Holy Spirit; I am a VESSEL He flows through. IT IS WRITTEN in John 14:26 the Holy Spirit will TEACH them all things—my job is to show up, not to fix. The BARAK blessing over my ministry means God Himself shows up when I don't have words. I am a fellow traveler pointing to Jesus, not a guru with all the answers. My 'I don't know, but HE does' is more powerful than false certainty.
The Father is wrapping His arms around you, whispering: 'I never asked you to be omniscient—that's MY job. Your admission of not-knowing is the crack where My light shines brightest. Just love them—I'll handle the answers.' He's doing the heavy lifting.