It’s easy to find bad news. Just turn on the TV or click on a news app. (Or maybe . . . don’t. Save yourself from the trauma and the nightmares.)
You get the point, though. Sometimes it’s easy to wonder where God is amidst our trials, if He cares, or why He hasn’t come back yet to rescue us from this world. As believers, we have the promise of Christ returning to make all things new, but sometimes it doesn’t feel as if He’ll ever return. I mean, things are just getting worse, not better.
Here’s an example from my own life that I used when I was talking to my sister about this. This is not to say that I have all the answers or know exactly why it feels like God is taking so long; I don’t. But here is some food for thought that will hopefully encourage you.
For those of you who don’t know, I am a novelist. No, I’m not published yet, but I have written a couple of novels. So, I guess that means I’m a novelist?
Last year when I was working on my fantasy novel, I remember keeping my sister up to date on where I was at as I wrote the story. I would list only key points, so she was surprised when it took me so long to write from Point A to Point B. She could only see the narrow picture and only knew key points of the story, so naturally, she thought I would go right from Point A to Point B.
But what she didn’t know is that I had all these plans in between. Characters, plot twists, and themes that needed addressed. Things she didn’t know the story needed but that would ultimately make the story better and the words typed before “The End” much sweeter.
With that in mind, I realized I could relate much more to God as an Author, and it helped me realize why sometimes it seems like He’s “taking too long.”
I mean, think about it. In the Book of Revelation, God gives us key points about what will happen in the end times, but that’s all they are. Key points.
We don’t know what His plan is in between Point A and Point B, nor how long it’s going to take. We can be tempted to think, “God, why haven’t You returned yet?” But we can’t see, and we certainly don’t know all the plans that He has already written in between each point. Characters, plot twists, and themes that need to be addressed. Things we don’t know the story needs but that will ultimately make His Story that much better and the victory in Jesus that much sweeter.
Think about any good book you’ve read. What do they all have in common?
Well, one thing I’ve noticed is that good books have really wicked bad guys. I mean, it’s kind of a cheesy story if the hero’s enemy is a wimp whose only flaw is that he loudly chews bubble gum.
The worse the bad guys are and the less chance it seems of the main character ever having a happily ever after, the better the book. I grip the edge of my seat as I root for the hero to slay the dragon and rescue his princess in the tower. But if there is no conflict in the entire story, no obstacles to overcome, and no bad guys to defeat, then I think that would be a pretty boring book.
I think God is kind of like that. He is an Author, and He wrote the story of the world. We might be faced with wicked dragons in our life, and well, let’s face it, some pretty horrible bad guys. But if life was easy and there were no bad guys whatsoever, then there would be no reason to yearn anxiously for a rescue (a.k.a. our Knight in shining armor, Jesus).
And just like in any good book, things must get worse before they get better. The heroes need to reach low points. Points where they don’t think they can go on any further. (For example, maybe the hero’s best friend abandoned him, and he’s left to fight the battle alone.) There must be points in the story where it seems all hope is lost. Points where it seems like the bad guys are almost winning.
Because it’s at times like these that the Author’s work really shines through.
Because just when it seems like all is lost, He sends a hero to save them, and “they live happily ever after.”
Originally written by Hannah Benson and published in the God Is the Author of My Story issue of OBO magazine.
