Welcome To The Maze

maze (noun) 1.) A network of paths and hedges designed as a puzzle through which one has to find a way. 2.) A complex network of paths or passages. 3.) A confusing mass of information. (verb) 4.) Be dazed and confused.

       

The maze concept serves as a fitting metaphor for the complex puzzle known as Life. Mazes are nonlinear, presenting many twists and turns. Mazes are puzzling and confusing - indeed, that is the point of their design. There are many dead ends to overcome. Mazes can foster frustration when the exit remains out of view. There is a way to solve the puzzle, but the solution is not immediately clear. It's not meant to be easy. Does any of this strike a chord? Life is but a maze.
       

It's also fitting that there is a linguistic link between the words maze and amazing, for the latter is popularly used to describe the grace of God. Even nonbelievers are familiar with the "sweet sound" of Amazing Grace, the centuries-old spiritual anthem:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

His Word my hope secures;

He will my Shield and Portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God, who called me here below,

Will be forever mine.

When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we'd first begun. 

       

The word grace appears 38 times in the Old Testament and 128 times in the New Testament. What exactly is this wonderful blessing known as the grace of God? Choirs sing of its amazing quality, but what makes it so amazing?
       

Spiritual rebirth is unquestionably the highest manifestation of Grace - when a sinner is brought from darkness to light, from the clutches of Satan into the loving arms of God. The precious gift of heavenly grace, however, comes wrapped in multiple layers.
       
The same grace which saves our souls is the same grace which brings every other blessing of God into our lives. Grace is favor. The grace of God is the favor of God. It is unearned favor. (Otherwise it wouldn't be a gift.) This amazing grace doesn't stop at the church altar. Rather, it meets us in the Maze of daily living and earthly struggle.

© Matt Decker

» This post is excerpted from the Introduction to my book  GRACE IN A MAZE: How to Make it Through