His Names Tell His Story
"Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south." (Psalm 107:2,3 NIV)
A few months ago, my younger daughter and I went to see a play. It was a well-known classic, but we'd never seen it before and didn't really know what it was about. Afterwards, my daughter asked what I was also wondering: "what, exactly, WAS that about?"
My high-schooler is a conscientious English student and knows any good story is supposed to include certain elements, among them a problem that needs to be solved and a climactic turning point in the plot. We couldn't find either in the play we'd just seen. (But we did have a good time together and have laughed about the play's lack of storyline ever since, which any parent of a teenager will tell you are both worth the cost of a ticket and then some.)
God's story, though, suffers from no such deficits. His story is like its Author: complete. And it is woven together with threads of His names.
God's story has a cast of leading characters: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
It has secondary characters: the Creator's creations.
It has a problem that needs to be solved: our sin and the way it breaks our relationship with the Holy One.
It has a hero: Jesus.
It has many climactic turning points: when Emmanuel arrives on earth; when the Lamb of God declares, "It is finished;" when the tomb is empty because the Victor has defeated death; when the Risen Christ, mistakenly believed by Mary to be a gardener, speaks her name and in one word undoes all that sorrow has done.
And God's story—oh the joy of it—has a happy ending that's really just the happiest of all beginnings: when the Faithful and True—His eyes blazing, His head crowned, and all of heaven's armies behind Him—rides in on His white horse and defeats the enemy once and for all (Revelation 19). For all who wait in faith. For all who hope in faith. For all who believe in faith.
Dear ones, God, who knows the beginning from the end, has written the whole of His story. But we still have reading to do. In His story, we find our stories. And as we turn each new page, we have a call to carry out: "let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story."
Oh God, Your names tell Your story. Help me to make it known.
"You're my author, my maker,
My ransom, my Saviour,
My refuge, my hiding place.
You're my helper, my healer,
My blessed redeemer,
My answer, my saving grace."
(From "Worthy Of Your Name;" Passion; songwriters Brenton Brown, Sean Curran, Brett Younker; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcedMbopknM.)
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!