“Hey Hudson, the directions say to start right here with the picture of the little boy, and then help him get home.”
“But Mom, it’s easier to go backwards, see?”
With the words barely out of his mouth, six-year-old Hudson completed the maze on his restaurant paper placemat.
“That was EASY…” he said, moving on to the vegetable-laden word search.
I recall watching my son work on that maze, wondering how often in this journey of life it would simplify things to go backwards instead of forward. How many experiences would be made easier if we could start at the finish line, only to go in reverse with perfect hindsight? How much more pleasant to move through life’s obstacles already knowing the outcome instead of blindly moving forward day by day?
I’ve written about Basden’s birth story when a standard 28-week sonogram showed a malformation in her brain. Our perinatal neonatologist shared the rare and devastating diagnosis and prepared us for significant complications, even the possibility that she might live only a short time. Those remaining months of weekly Friday scans would have been a breeze had we known the “end of the maze” – a CT Scan at Basden’s birth revealed a perfectly formed little brain. But the Lord allowed our family to struggle through the fear and uncertainty of looming medical probabilities. And even with the surprising gift of a healthy baby girl, that journey left behind some tender scars and sensitivity. And more importantly, some faith muscles.
We’ve faced situations over the years, even in recent months, when I’ve thought, not only is there no easy way forward, but I cannot imagine good coming from this. Moving through suffering is a painful, one-day-at-a-time process. There just don’t seem to be any shortcuts to God’s building of our faith muscles.
In ancient days, the Lord guided Moses and the Hebrew people through the desert one day at a time. He didn’t give them enough manna for the journey; he gave them enough manna for each day. They progressed without any obvious signs of hope on the horizon. Simply His presence in the form of a cloud to guide them. Certainly, these wandering Israelites had no way of knowing that one day, centuries later, they would be the subject of children’s bedtime Bible stories and the focus of God’s faithfulness in thousands of sermons.
On the eve of his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told his disciples that he was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. He asked his Father to “take this cup from me,” but then continued, “But not my will, Father, but Thy will be done.” I imagine Jesus knew the outcome. Fully human and fully God, he knew this was the WAY, but he still asked for deliverance from the impending crucifixion. Yet God allowed Jesus’ suffering as the bridge to restore his children to Himself. Jesus willingly gave his life for us, and just as remarkably, God the Father allowed him to do it (from a parent’s perspective, mind-blowing). Then in marvelous triumph, Jesus rose from the dead and freed all of humanity from the bonds of sin and death. Remarkable.
The view from the finish line looks good.
Finished.
Complete.
Our call is to move through this maze of life from the beginning – day by day, sometimes with painful steps.
Yet as God’s children, we know who’s waiting at the finish line. We know who’s in charge. And we know the end of the story!
Paul Tripp summarizes this idea beautifully:
Thankfully, the Bible is clear about where the grand march of history is going. Everything in heaven and earth is moving according to God’s great preordained plan. The cosmos moves according to his will. And the Bible is clear about where your life is going as a child of God. No, your faith and obedience have not been in vain. No, your steadfastness to God and what he says has not been meaningless. God has been at work in all that you’ve experienced to prepare you for your final destination, because by God’s grace your life is moving toward an end more glorious than anything you could imagine. You will look back and say, “All the effort and hardship was worth it.”
Here is where your story is going. You have been ransomed out of the sinful mass of humanity by the blood of Jesus. This means that your story will never end. You will reign with your Lord forever and ever, with everlasting peace and righteousness, in the new heavens and new earth. Now, that’s a good ending!
Even as Jesus peered into the front end of his Calvary maze, he felt scared and overwhelmed, to the point of asking (twice!) for deliverance. Moses faced discouragement meandering through the desert for forty years with a massive group of ungrateful Israelites. And on a much smaller but personal scale, our family spent three months enduring fear and the unknown before my daughter’s birth. And all these years later, we continue to face situations begging our Heavenly Father for renewed hearts and minds to accept His best. And He keeps showing up, holding us as we move forward.
Children’s mazes can be solved backward from the finish line.
The journey of life, however, must be forged going forward. One day, one step at a time.
Yet praise God that as his children, we get to move forward with the end in sight.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Psalm 107:8-9