Life Is Like A Maze

 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalm 119:105

 

This very simple Bible study and devotional was presented to a group of young people after they had competed in small teams to get through a corn maze in the dark. The event provided an outstanding illustration of the choices in life, the consequences of wrong turns, and the necessity of a light, a map, signposts, and teammates! Reader, have you made wrong turns in your life and suffered for them? Do you know where to obtain a light, a map, signposts, and teammates for the maze of life? May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ guide you through life with His wisdom.

  1. If you had been in the maze without a map, without signposts, without flashlights, and without teammates, you would still be there … because you would have been hopelessly lost! You would have been lonely, scared, frustrated, confused, and angry about not being able to successfully complete the maze. And if you do not think so about tonight’s simple mazes, wait until you visit the more difficult mazes we will explore next year in north Georgia.
  2. The rest of your life is just like a maze. I promise you. You will face many decision points (more than you want), where you will have to decide whether to go left, right, or straight ahead. Just like tonight, there might be five or more options at some points. Just like tonight, there may be decision after decision after decision. Just like tonight, you may have to reverse your course and start all over again. Just like tonight, you may have to backtrack and waste a great deal of time and energy. Just like tonight, you will get frustrated and not know what to do. Just like tonight, you may need friends to re-enter the maze and find you to lead you out of trouble.
  3. If you make the wrong choices and choose the wrong paths in life, you will waste part or all of your life, you will be angry and frustrated, you will have pain and trouble, you will lose joy and peace, and you will never reach the end successfully. You will be disappointed by you life … and then you will die … sooner than you ever expected. You felt a little tiny bit of this tonight in the maze, but the maze of life is far more complicated with much greater consequences for the wrong choices. They dysfunctional lives of most are very painful experiences.
  4. The rest of the world is lost in the maze of life. They do not know how to marry, how to train children, how to manage money, how to pick jobs, how to get ahead on jobs, what church to join, what doctrine to believe, how to speak well, how to honor parents, how to have a good name, how to manage relationships, how to relate to and use authority, how to pick and keep friends, how to have the right attitude, how to make ethical choices, how to avoid being odious, how to treat government, etc., etc., etc.
  5. They lose out on pleasing God and good men with their lives, which is my great goal for you (Luke 2:52). They wander through life confused by all the choices, making wrong decisions and suffering for them, wondering why they are so discontent and unhappy, living dysfunctional and painful lives … and then dying as unhappy losers (Pr 13:15)! I do not want this for any one of you!
  6. But think of what you have to help you through the maze of life! You have the word of God, which is the lamp for your feet and the light for your path. Just as you would have been lost tonight without a light, you will be lost in the maze of life without God’s word. It sheds light on all your decisions, so you can see clearly what you ought to do (II Pet 1:19)! Thank you, Lord!
  7. But think of what you have to help you through the maze of life! You have signposts to tell you where you are and where you should be going. The word of God and the doctrine of our church are the signposts that keep you going in the right direction for life. You hear things over and over again to settle you down in life and keep you going on the right track. When you encounter these decision points, you know exactly what you ought to do. Thank you, Lord!
  8. But think of what you have to help you through the maze of life! You have a map! A perfect map! A complete map! An easy to read and understand map! You know where you came from and why. You know where you are going and why. You know how to get there. And you know the wrong turns before they even show up. And you know the shortcuts that God in His wisdom has given you. All these things are in the word of God (Ps 19:7-11)! Thank you, Lord!
  9. But think of what you have to help you through the maze of life! You have each other! You have me! And I have you! And you have your parents! And they have you! And you have the whole church! And the whole church has you! We have a church – your teammates for the maze of life – to help you get to the end successfully … and have a lot of joy and pleasure on the way to the end! It would have been no fun at all to do the maze by yourself. But it is a lot of fun doing it with others. And living life with the wonderful friendships and help of church members is entirely better.
  10. But the only way you can successfully navigate the maze of life and be a successful winner is to READ the Bible, UNDERSTAND the Bible, and OBEY the Bible. This is why you need to carefully read at least one chapter today! This is why you need to read the Proverb and commentary for today! This is why you need to prepare and pray for the preaching on Sunday! And this is why you want to keep your relationships with each church member very good, so that they can be helpful teammates in seeing you to the end of life’s maze (Eccl 4:9-12).

For further study:

  1. Men are wandering today, because they cannot find God’s word (Amos 8:11-13).
  2. If you wander from God’s word, you will remain in the congregation of the dead (Prov 21:16).
  3. If you neglect God’s word and ways, He will confuse you until you are lost (Job 12:24; Ps 107:40).