Image by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash
WHAT KIND OF STORY ARE YOU IN?
This image almost makes you think you woke up in a fairy tale, doesn't it? Well, that's what I'd like to talk about this week. We are all of us in a story, but that story is bigger than you and your own life. In fact, we are all of us in the same story, even if we live in different chapters or scenes.
I wrote last time about the hardships of living life under siege. If you remember, a siege is a form of attack that isn't loud and explosive; instead, it's an attack that simply seeks to cut us off from supplies and reinforcements. During a siege, our enemy seeks to wear us down and wait us out. It may take a little longer, but it is every bit as effective as an all-out assault.
I wrote about the hope David found when he was under siege:
"Blessed be the LORD,
for He has wondrously shown His steadfast love to me
when I was beset as a city under siege." (Psalm 31:21)
In a very real way, each of us is a city under siege. Though it may not feel like it at times, none of us is really alone. As John Donne wrote 400 years ago: "No man is an island." We are all bound to one another in many ways. We bear the same humanity, the same image of God, the same fallenness, the same confusion, and yes, sometimes the same sense of isolation and loneliness. But even in this we can find comfort in Jesus because He, too, endured His own season of loneliness and isolation. In the Garden of Gethsemane, and in the hours that followed, He too felt abandoned and forsaken.
And yet … though it may seem to us that we are alone and cut off, we are in actuality held by God, our Rock, our Fortress, our Refuge. If we are under attack, it is from outside our walls; the domain within which we are kept is God Himself, our Rock, our Refuge, our Fortress.
But though it is true that God is our Shield and Defender, it is also true that we are made to support one another, and even if we do so fitfully and inconsistently at times, we all find ourselves bound by our common origins in Him and our common faith and trust in Him. The reality is that we all are caught up into a story vastly larger than we are, even though it's easy to lose sight of.
We awake every morning to find ourselves immersed in this Great Story that began before we were born and will continue after we're gone (if the Lord tarries!). So the question I put before each of us today is: What kind of story have you been landed in?
One of my favorite episodes in The Lord of the Rings is a conversation between Frodo and Sam when they are in one of the darkest stretches of their quest. Brooding over how and where their journey will end and whether anyone will ever know of their adventures, Sam wonders aloud to Frodo:
“The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call
them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out
and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a
bit dull…. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones
that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths
were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of
turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have
been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind
you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You
know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same – like old
Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best
tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”
“I wonder,” said Frodo. “But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale. Take any
one that you’re fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending
or sad-ending, but the people in it don’t know. And you don’t want them to. ” …
“I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course; but I
mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book
with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: ‘Let’s hear
about Frodo and the Ring!’ And they’ll say: ‘Yes, that’s one of my favorite stories. Frodo
was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?’ ‘Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that’s
saying a lot.’”
Like Frodo and Sam, we're each in the middle of a story of our own right now, but as I said earlier, that story is bigger than any one of us. And all this may (I hope) lead you to wonder: "What kind of story have I been landed in anyway?"
Each of us has his or her own story to live. And just like Frodo and Sam, we don't know how or when that story will end. We don't know what exactly our part will be or whether anyone will ever take note of it. We don't know if we're at the heart of the action or somewhere out on the periphery. What we do know is that, carrying aloft the banner of Jesus the Messiah, the Risen Lord, the One who spoke all of creation into being, and standing firm in Him, we will share in His great victory at the end of days.
We often fool ourselves (or are deceived into thinking) that our life, our story, doesn't count or isn't worth living or telling. Let me assure you, friend, that nothing could be further from the truth. There are no unsung heroes in this life of faith. You may cruise along sight unseen for the whole span of your decades here on Earth, but one day–one Day!–all will be seen for who and what they truly are.
We are all of us weak and frail and vulnerable, prone to sin and weakness, and likely to cave at the least bit of resistance. We are all, so to speak, damsels in distress waiting for a knight in shining armor to come and rescue us. And praise be to the Lord, He has rescued us!
Believe it or not, Psalm 45 speaks of this very same image of knights and chivalry:
1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.
2 You are the most handsome of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your glory and majesty.
4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
for the cause of truth and to defend the right....
6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir….
I hope you see Jesus in this passage (and not just a knight in shining armor!). We may not live in such times as these anymore, but to paraphrase C.S. Lewis: “Since it is so likely that [we] will meet cruel enemies, let [us] at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage." Because stories like these help us all aspire to the greatness born of our very humility. Every one of us is in need of saving. Every one of us needs a knight such as this to come to our aid. And you know what? Jesus has come in just as dramatic a way to save all those who will trust in Him, and so every one of us will one day share in His greatness.
We often think of spiritual battle as warring angels brandishing bright swords and shooting flaming arrows and whatnot. And I won't argue that that isn't sometimes the case. But most often spiritual battle is waged in places like the Garden of Gethsemane, quiet, isolated, alone, away from the presence of others and seemingly cut off from God. But we, too, have our Gethsemane moments. We, too, are like Jesus, daunted by the challenge before us and immersed in isolation, loneliness, maybe even abandonment, or just the feeling of abandonment.
Jesus had His cross to bear, and He told us that we would have one too. In the end, we know that in spite of what lies before us, however dark and daunting, Jesus has gone before us. Jesus' victory over sin and death has ensured that our story ends well. So, take heart, friend. You may not have the answers to all your questions. You may not have great theological theories to account for why you have to endure the things you do. But you have something far better–the Presence of the Risen Christ. Put your trust in Him, and the Holy Spirit will take up residence in your heart, soul, and body and usher you into the healing and wholeness you long for. And you will be a blessed and fortunate person for winding up in a story with a happy ending.
Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.
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