The Bible’s answer for us is a stage-by-stage roadmap from eternity past to eternity future. It’s a pathway marked out for us by God consisting of multiple steps, some sequential and some simultaneous. No matter how wild or random life may seem, this is the trail along which He is leading us. It will ultimately guide us home to unimaginable joy.
Think of a time you were lost.
I remember leading my isolated platoon deep in a maze of side streets in the Iraqi city of Amarah. Night was falling and we knew insurgents were close, intent on a kill or, possibly worse, a capture. I’ll never forget the rising fear as it dawned on me that I had lost track of our exact location. I’ll also never forget the relief when my map made sense again. We completed the patrol without casualties.
One year that group included Theseus. In the Greek myth, King Minos’ love-struck daughter slips him a ball of magic string as he enters the maze. The string unravels in front of him, leading him to where he can slay the monster before guiding him safely out again.
Our world can sometimes feel like a maze of side streets in enemy territory. Or the Labyrinth, with monsters lurking in shadowy corners, ready to pounce as we pass. As Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33 NIV).
In fact, sometimes the abuse, the death of a child, the cancer, the debt, the state of the marriage, the loneliness, the depression, can make us wonder if Theseus had it easy with just a Minotaur.
And so we do our best. Side-streets, labyrinth—pick your analogy—but we try to navigate a world in which we may be ambushed at any turn, whether by our own self-destructive sin, the sin of others against us, Satan and his malevolent demons, or the tragedy-triggering fallenness of creation in general.
Of course, this portrayal of life isn’t the full picture. Life can be full of laughter and happiness. In fact, for the person whose identity is in Christ, there is deep confidence and joy available in all circumstances. “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” said the Apostle Paul (Phil. 4:11).
But as a pastor, I look out over my congregation each Sunday and am reminded of the myriads of suffering and trouble that are part of the human condition. Joy and tears are not mutually exclusive. (Younger readers, if in doubt give it a few more years. You’ll see what I mean.)
So what is to be our roadmap through the side streets, the string to guide us through the labyrinth, our source of direction in life?