The end of the story

As I read the stories in the bible I am frequently amazed at what awesome things God did for those who stepped up to be used. At the same time I am troubled by the fact that for my whole life I have heard these stories and now, when I can truly appreciate them, I find them less than inspiring. When I probe my heart to determine why this is, it becomes clear. I know how the story ends. Have you ever known someone who has recorded their favorite TV program or a ball game and respectfully requests that you don’t tell them how it ends. If you do tell them, they get angry because you have spoiled the experience of having it unfold. It is like we take a journey of discovery when we follow a path that we don’t know where it ends. There are nuances and emotions that are conjured up with every bend in the stream or bump in the road. It is like a roller coaster ride in the dark. There is something magical about the unknown that we attempt to weave even into our entertainment. It is like we are living out the moment with those players. Will the detectives find the killer? Will the kicker make that game winning field goal? We wait on pins and needles to know the ending.

If we have been Christians for any length of time, when we think about the stories of the bible, we know the endings. God delivers Isaac from the alter, the children of Israel cross the Red Sea, David kills the giant, Job gets all his stuff back and more , Joseph saves the day and the tomb is empty just to name a few.

What we are missing is the moment right before God reveals His provision for us. We are missing that emotionally charged moment when we as humans must overcome our own self doubt and step up to the challenge and stand firm. It would be just like if we told a friend that the game came down to a last minute field goal and the home team lost the game. At that point do you even really want to even watch that game any more? Have you ever thought about what Jacob was thinking as he raised his knife against Isaac? Or what was David thinking as he approached Goliath with a sling? How did Peter feel when he denied Christ? How did Saul feel when he met Christ for the first time and became Paul? How did Joseph feel when his brothers sold him into slavery and his bosses wife accused him of rape? How did Ruth feel when she approached her husband about her heritage? How did Daniel feel when he knelt to pray? How did Shadrach, Meshach and Abed Nebo feel when they defied the king’s order? We know how the stories end, but they didn’t. How did they feel?

I think they felt like we would have given the same circumstances. How do you think you would feel? What are the range of emotions you would experience? Frustration, anger, weakness, sadness, self doubt, fear and the list can go on and on. We would run through many of them just as I believe they did. Ask yourself this one question… how many stones does it take to kill a giant? Again, not the answer you know, but put yourself in the valley on that day. You are David. You are gathering stones. How many do you pick up? It seems like a stupid question. Only because you know the stories ending. But if you don’t … how many do you pick up? David choose five. We can speculate as to why, but he just did. He proved for us once and for all that David did not know the end to his own story. We all know that he only needed one. Or, did he? How did the giant die? God killed him. Well of course he did. Because we all know that a man cannot kill a giant with a stone and a sling. Why did David pick up anything at all? David was a man after God’s own heart. But, (and this is important), he was also a human. David knew that God was able to deliver him from the giant and he brought to the table all the skill and ability that he had. He picked up five smooth stones and walked toward the giant. What was he thinking? Remember, you are David and you don’t know how this turns out. Maybe this is your time to go. Will they talk of the day David was killed by the giant for the next 2000 years? I assure you his mind was lit up with the possibilities. His mind was also lit up with fear and anxiousness and the full range of human emotions that we would imagine we would experience in the same situation.

So what did David, Jacob, Daniel, Joseph, Saul/Paul know that we don’t? Nothing! What set them apart, was their faith in God. These and other like them in the bible and in everyday life had one thing in common. They rose above their circumstances to see the end of their stories revealed. Without our cooperation in letting God work through our lives he will not have opportunity to work through our lives. If God cannot work through our lives, then great story endings cannot happen. If great story ending cannot happen then God cannot be glorified by man. And mans chief end is to glorify God. Game over. The home team losses. The giants win. The faith of the young Hebrew boys are crushed. The followers of Christ are nothing more than foolish fisherman. The twelve bothers and the tap root of God’s chosen people dies in the desert.

The stakes are high. What is your story? How will it end? Are you setup for a dramatic, minutes left in the fourth quarter, come from behind win. Or, have you given up and run away from God and his provision. I would challenge you with the idea that all these heros of the faith confronted odds that were stacked against them. To all of them the signs were ominous. To all of them it looked to the human eye as the beginning of the end. But they stepped up to the line and they stood their ground and they made a way for God to come through in the final minutes and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. So swallow your fear, choke back the tears, lift up your head and step up to the line and think about how good your God is and how inspirational the end of your story will be to the masses 2000 years from now and how glorified your God will be that you made it possible for Him to work through your life and reveal a powerful ending to your story.