At the time of writing this, I’ve been in a pretty dark place. Definitely not the darkest place I’ve ever been in, praise God, but the darkest in quite awhile. I’ve felt lost and like something is missing, like I don’t know what’s happening or where I’m supposed to go. As awful as these times are, this is when Jesus reveals Himself.

In John 20:11-18, we see that Mary Magdalene went through this exact situation in a way that, thankfully, we’ll never have to experience.

John 20:11-18

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 

12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 

13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 

14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 

17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 

18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” – and that he had said these things to her.

Mary had witnessed Jesus’ death on the cross and wanted to honor His body, but when she came to the tomb the body wasn’t there. So she broke down and started weeping. We know how the story ends but there’s a few things that I want to highlight.

She went back

Something that’s so important to note here is that she went back in the tomb. She just needed one more look, maybe to see if there was more evidence or to process the fact that He wasn’t there. But when she did, she saw two angels.

We need to give things just one last look. A lot of the times we give up on something far before we were meant to. If Mary would’ve just chosen to walk away out of distress, she would have missed the blessing. She wouldn’t have seen the angels and she may have missed the fact that Jesus had risen at all.

What have we missed because we walked away too early? What would we have gotten if we just would’ve given it one last look? 

She didn’t know

When the angels asked her why she was weeping, she answered that they took Jesus and she didn’t know where He was.

How many times have you sat with your face in your hands because you didn’t know what to do, you didn’t know where to go and you just felt lost?

Dude, that’s been me about every day for the last three months. Every time it felt like I knew what was going on, life would happen and I’d end up more confused than before.

We have a blessing that she didn’t have, though. We know that Jesus rose again. We have Jesus right next to us all the time. So when we don’t know, we get to lean on Him. But the problem is that even though we know that He’s right there, we still manage to miss Him.

She didn’t recognize Him

She turned around and saw Jesus standing right in front of her but because she was in her emotions and in such despair she didn’t recognize Him. She couldn’t even fathom the idea that it was Jesus so in her mind, it was the gardener. The idea of resurrection didn’t cross her mind.

It wasn’t until He said her name that she recognized that it was Jesus. 

So what’s our excuse? If we know that He’s right there and we know that He rose again, what’s our reason for missing Him?

Don’t get me wrong – I miss Him all the time. It’s not until I look back at a situation that I see that Jesus was right next to me holding me steady the whole time. When we’re in these dark moments, it opens us up to see the incredible beauty and grace of Christ. When things are going great, it’s easy to forget just how much we need Him. 

In the times where things are dark and we feel like we lost everything that God has given to us, we need to remember just how incredible He is.

God will never leave us hanging. He’ll never abandon us or make us go through something alone. He’s always right there exactly when we need Him. (Spoiler alert: we ALWAYS need Him.)

If you’re in a dark moment, He hasn’t left you and you don’t have to walk it alone.

My Free Prayer Journal gives you space to sit with Jesus, process your heart through Scripture, and see Him show up, even here.

Download it here and let Him meet you where you are.