Pastor’s Corner: “A-Maze-ing”
Psalm 32:8 (NLT) – 8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
This time of year farmers will cut harvested corn stalks to ground level in a special design forming paths in what is called a Corn Maze. These mazes are intricate paths with high walls so that you cannot tell which direction you are moving in. People, especially during harvest festivals, enjoy walking through the maze to find their way out. The perplexing problem in a maze is that there are many “dead ends” and participants must start all over again. Often there is a high tower in the middle of the maze and if you ever make it to the center you can look down on everyone else struggling to find their way through. I can’t understand the attraction to mazes; I hate not knowing which direction I should be taking and I get frustrated every time I hit a dead end.
Sometimes life can feel like we’re walking around in a maze. We feel we’re wandering around aimlessly, hoping we’ll find the exit around the next corner – only to find another dead end or detour.
We can sometimes feel the situation we’re in is never going to end. We’ve done everything we know to do and it just hasn’t helped. We’re overcome. We feel overwhelmed. The breakthroughs that we’re waiting for are just not happening. Does this sound familiar?
Life, much like a maze, is all about choices. And there will be times when we will make some bad choices. There’s no way you’ll be able to go through life without ever facing — even making — a wrong choice. (You’ve already found that out, haven’t you?) But two choices you can make in life — just like in mazes — are to look ahead (to Christ our guide) & to avoid paths that lead to evil. 1 Timothy 6:11 (NLT) – 11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
There will be times when you realize you’re headed down the wrong path, the safest-and smartest-course is to stop, admit you were wrong, and turn around. That’s not always as easy in life as it is in mazes and puzzles, but it will save you a lot of trouble and sadness. It will also help you get through the maze of life instead of getting stuck in a dead end. We can avoid some of those dead ends and detours if we continue to look to Christ as our guide. Christ can lead us to a perfect balance of patience, trust, forgiveness, obedience and decisiveness in our dead ends and detours.
It’s encouraging to know that the Lord can see our lives from a very different perspective (just like the tower in the center of the Corn Maze). When we place Jesus in the center of our lives and look to Him, He can see us the way out of any and every situation even when we cannot. Is this is an attack from the enemy? Will we be refined? Will this help us to grow in our walk with the Lord?
Psalm 32:8 (NLT) – 8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. The Lord is saying He’ll tell us what to do. As we start handing over the situation to Him we’ll start to understand His heart and we’ll get direction in the situation. It’s wonderful to know He’s watching our progress. The word ‘progress’ means moving forward. So even though the breakthrough may not come at the exact time we would like it to, according to this verse, there will be progress. It’s A-Maze-ing to know the Lord has the power to fulfill every promise in His Word!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton