Does Life Feel LIke a Maze?

I love the fall. The beautiful colors changing in the hardwood trees, the pots of colorful mums, pumpkins and harvest festivals are a sight to behold. Around our area there are several corn mazes. These mazes are intended to be loads of fun for the entire family. Corn mazes appear in many different designs. Some mazes are even created to tell stories or to portray a particular theme. Most have a path, which goes all around the whole pattern, either to end in the middle or to come back out again. It’s generally intended to be hard enough that you have to retrace some of your steps or try a new direction in order to get through it.

When you enter a maze you have no way of seeing the pattern of the route. It’s obscured because you are at ground level and the corn stalks are generally head high or taller. You just have to feel your way around, walk carefully and remember where you’ve been. It can get a little scary because it’s hard to know if you’re near the end of it or if you have circled back to the beginning. Some of the haunted mazes have characters hiding along the way to scare people and to make them scream.

Life is a lot like a maze. We find our faith walk’s beginning and the focal point is Christ, the Entrance to real life. We begin walking and encounter lots of twists and turns along the way. Some of them are filled with dangers, dread and trouble. We get confused and turned around. We can’t see where our life is going, we can’t plan every step, we try to keep walking in belief. We wonder sometimes if God is asking us to go back or if He’s asking us to have faith and keep going.

God speaks to our hearts: My precious child. You may see life as a maze that’s impossible to traverse. The view from your flesh is only as far as your eye can see. But My view is complete. I know the exact path of your life. I know the twists and turns that are simply part of the bigger picture of your entire life. I am the creator of all you cannot see and all you are going to accomplish through it all. I am the finisher of the maze and I will keep you heading in the right direction all the days of your life. And even if you get off track, you only have to come to Me for redirection. Even if someone else tries to confuse you and upset you with their lack of planning or their purposeful misdirection I am your Guide all the way through. I will never leave you to meet your fears alone, I will never let someone else take you where I don’t want you to go and I will always lead you with love!

Oh beloved, you can trust the Lord to guide you by His light and His Word. Everything you need to know how to live, where to go and how to navigate through life’s troubles is written out for you by the Holy Spirit.  Ultimately no one can send you through a maze that God Himself has not allowed. Ultimately even a twist or turn that was meant to harm you or get you lost from His plan will be used for His glory and your good. God will turn it all around, get you through the darkness and set you on High with Him. His Word is your map through all you encounter so that you are no longer the victim of rejection, misdirection or your own will. Reach out to God’s Word, reject the enemy’s lies, walk forward with faith and remember that God will not let you stay confused, lose your way, or remain lost for His path for your life is confirmed in heaven.

God loves you and He’s for you and He’s all you need to get through this life and get to the next life where you will live with Him forever!

Jeremiah 14:9 Are you also confused? Is our champion helpless to save us? You are right here among us, Lord. We are known as Your people. Please don’t abandon us now!

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 143:11 For the glory of Your name, O Lord, preserve my life. Because of Your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.

Psalm 16:7 I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.

God Will Get You Through the Dark

Danny presided over a forming chapter information meeting last night. It was held in a town in the Ouachita Mountains about 3 hours from home. It was a very nice ride yesterday afternoon as we traveled through beautiful country and saw a few deer and other wild animals. Last night, after the meeting was over it had turned dark. The ride home was far different from the ride over. The mountains are harder to navigate at night and instead of observing the wildlife we found ourselves dodging them as they bolted in and out of the headlights. What seems easy and pleasant in the daylight can turn rough and disagreeable when darkness overtakes the day. Putting your hands in the driver’s ability is no problem when you can see where you’re going, but in the depth of the darkness you just have to hold on and trust them even when you can’t see.

Everyone wants pleasant sunny days. We love to bask in God’s blessings and enjoy His beautiful world. We never know when the day will turn dark and some downturn of events comes upon us, literally obscuring our beautiful view. Everyone knows that there’s a time for the day and a time for the night, but really it’s hard to accept when it does come. What do we do when the mountains of difficulty, sorrow or loss loom in our horizon? Where do we go to find comfort and help to see things through? How do we know we will make it? It’s hard to negotiate the curves and the climb is so very steep?

Oh beloved, there is One Who is with you in the pleasant days of joy and peace. He is the Same One Who is with you in the hard times and dark moments of life that must be faced. Run to the Lord, the One Who is your Navigator. He Who is with you in the good times and the warmth of sunlight will also be with you in the nights of your life. He loves you and because He loves you He will get you through whatever it is you must negotiate. He’ll see you through sorrow, despair, and even death. There is absolutely nothing you cannot trust Him with, because even when you can’t see ahead, He knows the way! He will guide you with His loving care all the way through. He who promises to see you through will also give you songs in the night. Put your life in the One Who sees it all and promises that your life will be kept all the way to heaven.

Isaiah 51:16 And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand. I stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, 'You are my people!'"

Psalm 42:8 But each day the LORD pours His unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing His songs, praying to God who gives me life.

Psalm 16:7 I will bless the LORD who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.

Psalm 126:5 Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.

(Oh Beloved, Live in the Light of His Word! is published daily - Rebekah Beene copyright)