If Jesus is ‘the way, the truth and the life” why do we so often feel like we have lost our way, become confused and end up just muddling through life? Perhaps because our enemy wants to take us off the straight path and lure us into a maze. He beckons us to take our eyes off of Christ, even just for a moment, and look to our own strength, skills and wisdom to get us through the day. The more we rely on our self, the deeper we wander into a maze of problems and pressures that ultimately overwhelm us. We have been duped into believing that if we just work harder, God will bless us and get us out of the mess we are in.
I learned something about ‘getting out’ when I participated in a challenge course with some business colleagues. One exercise had us blindfolded and placed in a maze constructed of ropes. We were told to hold on with both hands and work our way through the maze to find the way out. Megan, the young lady who administered this particular challenge, walked around us saying, “Raise your hand if you have a question or need help getting out of the maze.” At first, this seemed like a polite but unnecessary offer. For fifteen minutes, I groped my way around in a futile attempt to find the way out. Thinking strategically, I worked the perimeter looking for that small opening in the rope that would set me free. Finding none, I worked my way to the middle, taking the counterintuitive route, clever as I was. I arrived, signaled to Megan and asked quietly but confidently, “Megan, am I out?” “No, sorry,” she replied. I tried the perimeter again now growing anxious as Megan announced each person who was ‘out of the maze’. Would I be last? Panic began to set in when it became apparent that there was no physical way out of the maze. The entire perimeter was closed. And as I stopped long enough to think about my inability to find my way out, I heard her sweet offer again, “Raise your hand if you have a question or need help getting out of the maze.” The solution had been right in front of me all along. All I needed to do was to hear her voice, consider my own inabilities and take a humble posture. This wasn’t a physical challenge, but a test to see if we would continue to rely solely on ourselves to our absolute infuriation. I humbly raised my hand; and when she came over, I said, “Megan, I can’t get out of the maze. Can you help me?” At once, she lifted the mask from my eyes, smiled, and said quietly, “Congratulations, you’re out.”
Can you hear the sweet voice of the Holy Spirit every minute of every day saying to you, “say a prayer, invite me in, ask for my help if you want to know how to live life to its fullest.” Jesus called the Spirit the Comforter who will guide us into all truth. (John 14) Will you ask humbly for the Spirit’s guidance, or spend your days in a frantic attempt to find your own way out?