Stop Trying to Figure it Out

Stop Trying to Figure it Out

From Chris Stefanick Catholic Show by Chris Stefanick | Real Life Catholic

April 18, 2026 · 7 min

About this episode

The episode discusses how to find God's presence in moments of crisis and the importance of prayer over problem-solving.

There's an old Greek storytelling trick called Deus ex machina—"God from the machine." When the playwright wrote his characters into a corner he couldn't get them out of, he'd just lower a god onto the stage on a crane, and boom—everything's fixed. Aristotle called it lazy writing. But here's the thing: the Bible is full of Deus ex machina moments. Not because God is a bad writer—but because we tend to write ourselves into corners we can't get out of. That's exactly what was happening on the road to Emmaus. A couple (a lot of theologians think it was a married couple—Cleopas and his wife Mary) is walking home, devastated. They'd given up time, income, maybe everything, to follow Jesus. And now He was dead. Game over. They're walking home feeling like fools, talking and talking, their problem-solving brains spinning in circles. And right in the middle of that mess, the solution drops down and starts walking with them! The first people Jesus appeared to in the Gospel of Luke after the Resurrection weren't the apostles or the official leadership. It was a husband and wife in their lowest moment, unsure what to do with their lives. He loves you in that moment. Look, your brain is a…

People in this episode

Host: Chris Stefanick

Topics covered

  • faith
  • prayer
  • resurrection
  • crisis
  • God's presence

Keywords

  • Deus ex machina
  • Emmaus
  • Jesus
  • prayer
  • crisis
  • faith
  • resurrection

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Gospel of Luke

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