All the Stories (Friday Devotional)

 

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. Our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

- Psalm 33:20-22

A few days ago, I was reading to my daughter from her favorite book, a collection of short stories featuring the popular PBS Kids character Daniel Tiger. I initially flipped to a story about Daniel’s first day of school and asked Katherine if she wanted me to read it. “No, Daddy,” she replied. “That’s a scary one.” Sure enough, the story deals with Daniel’s anxiety about his parents leaving him for the day.

Then I turned to a different story, one where Daniel plays with a new friend who has a disability. “How about this one?” I asked. “No, Daddy,” said Katherine, shaking her head. “That’s a sad one.” Indeed, the page I was on showed Daniel’s discomfort when his parents explained that his friend couldn’t walk like he could.

Finally, I turned to a story where Daniel and his family go see a fireworks show. “That’s it!” said Katherine, smiling. “I like this one! This is a happy one!”

If we could choose our life’s journey the way we choose stories, we would probably do it exactly like my three-year-old daughter. We’d avoid the sad parts, we’d skip over the scary parts, and we’d settle in comfortably for the happy parts. No tragedies, no trials—nothing but triumphs.

But of course, life doesn’t work that way. In our fallen world, sometimes the bad and the ugly are just as present as the good and the beautiful. In fact, sometimes we see so much darkness that it feels like light is never going to break through.

In those times, faith in God provides a hope and a comfort that earthly means can’t muster. You can look for an escape in entertainment or vice, but eventually you’ll have to come up for air and life’s cold, cruel realities will still be waiting for you. You can plan and work toward solutions to the world’s problems—and you should!—but even the best ideas and the strongest efforts can’t fix everything.

When you feel like you’re falling apart, faith’s humble response is to trust the one who made you in the first place to put you back together again. Lean on the one who sent his Son to do what you never could—rescue, redeem, reconcile, and resurrect. In a world wracked with confusion, he is the way. In a world led astray by lies, he is the truth. In a world dominated by death, he is the life.

We don’t get to skip the sad or the scary stories; we have to live through them. But if you know the author of salvation, you can persevere through them with the hope that earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.