Story and Song

 "I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller." -G.K. Chesterton

But if God is the Author, then why such a story--full of sorrow and suffering, disappointment and pain?  Those familiar with the Bible know that the characters in the story have rebelled against the Author, and unleashed an unrelenting torrent of sorrow through their sin.  But the Author has not given up His place. Moreover, the unusual thing about this story is that the Author is also the main Character.   And this is where things really get strange.  The climax of HisStory is when He humbly steps onto the stage, becoming a man, and enters the unfamiliar confines of time and space.  He struggled, suffered and grieved like every other character in the story, yet without sin.  But then, in the end, He did far more--He drank a cup of infinite pain.  On the cross, Christ was torn from the Father, rejected, forsaken, and cursed.  To the only begotten Son, this was infinite pain--the cost of redemption.  But this was part of the very plot that He co-authored. 

Author N.D. Wilson has a good insight--why does any author include difficulties and obstacles in a story?  So that the hero can overcome them.  So why would the Author of the Story create a world in which He would suffer infinite pain?

So that we could know Him as the ultimate Hero.  So that you could know Him as your ultimate Hero.

You cannot perceive life accurately unless you are hearing this Story, the Song of God--the song of the Gospel, the cosmic love song.

Your life is part of an epic story in which your hardships and the way you respond to them play a critical role.  Will you cling to the Hero and reflect His glory, or get lost in your own little world?

To have a good grip on reality we need a healthy dose of fiction.  We need good stories to remind us that we are in one.  If we trust the Author and play our part, we can enjoy it--the true story, the best one, in which the Author is the main character and ultimate Hero, who will one day right all wrongs, redeem all sorrows, and make all things new.