The point of chess is to trap your opponent's king. So you maneuver your pieces so that you are in a position to capture the king and there is no way for the opponent to get out of it. The king is never actually taken or "killed". When the victor makes the move that ties the final knot in the trap, they declare "checkmate" and the game is decided.
Sometimes life feels like a big game of chess. We make our plans and decide on a course, but it feels like the world is set on making counter moves to undo what we had in mind. Sometimes friendships fall through, jobs are less secure or not as lucrative, health issues arise, time marches on. We make our plans to try to get ahead, but it doesn't work out that way. Point and counterpoint, Thrust and Perry. Check and Mate.
A Christians we can fall prey to our own competence. We make plans and preparations based on our skills and abilities. We do the things that we can surely handle on our own, without considering what God would have of us. It is through this process that we back ourselves into a corner and life gives us nowhere to go. Check Mate.
It is at these times, when we seem to have no good options or means of escape that we rely the most heavily on God. When we look at a situation and say "God, I can't get through this without you." then we really experience the relationship that we should be building all along. Some people say that God orchestrates challenges in our lives to bring us closer to Him. Others would say that we are perfectly capable of making a mess out of things on our own.
I say that it doesn't matter. When there seems to be no Earthly option, God finds a way to get us through. Maybe not in the way that we wanted, but there is a way none the less. The trick is keeping the relationship open, so that God isn't our last option, but our first.
When life has us trapped, there is still a way out. And it is okay to use that way even when we aren't trapped.
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