Fine Print and the Storytelling of God’s Faithfulness
The Pause before the Go: Finding the Presence and Faithfulness of God in Hard Times
Lesson 8: Fine Print and the Storytelling of God’s Faithfulness
For this lesson: Skim through 1 & 2Chronicles then read Matthew 1:1-25; Luke 3:23-4:1; and Hebrews 11:1-12:3.
Reading 1 & 2 Chronicles without our eyes drooping, our mind going numb and wandering off to other places is near impossible! It is name after name, detail after detail and repetition after repetition- it is like reading the fine print in a Life Insurance Policy. Read 1 Chronicles 6:11-12. Other than tongue twister names like: “Ahitub, Zadok and Shallum” what’s the point of all this “fine print”? Why not just get to the main idea; leave three points and a poem like a good West Texas preacher and call it done?! It is obvious that there is more than “brain draining” minutia, and digressions going on here… What we have in the “fine print” are the details of the faithfulness of God behind the storytelling and events of Israel’s history, the Church’s history, and hopefully our own legacies as well. The fine print of God’s sovereign presence in the storytelling and story making of our own lives is what allows Him to WRITE the story of His promises and commands upon our hearts and lets us be a testimony to others. Let’s look at this in depth from our example of 1 Chronicles 6:11-12 of “Ahitub, Zadok, and Shallum.”
What’s in a name? Would “a rose by any other name be just as sweet (Romeo and Juliet)? If we are talking Shakespeare- yes; names aren’t important, it’s what’s INSIDE that determines value; but in Chronicles names are important because it’s what God does with that name on the OUTSIDE- out there in human history for the story of Israel that shows His faithfulness to His promises and His love for us. It turns out that Ahitub, Zadok and Shallum are a part of a tediously long list of names of Levites (the tribe of Israel that was responsible for the Priestly duties and taking care of the Temple).
Israel’s tragic history tells us that the Temple was burned by the Babylonians and the nation as a whole was destroyed and ceased to exist. Imagine being taken away from your home as a captive Israelite. Imagine learning from the earliest of ages about the faithfulness of God and then watching the sacred place (God’s Temple) the place of your worship since you were little being burned before your eyes, and everything you’ve built your life upon being ripped asunder! Sound impossible? Not really, when we think today about our own inability to gather at our houses of worship and as we wonder about the shape of our lives, our nation, and our churches as our old methods are challenged by uncontrollable circumstances. Scripture is clear, the Israelites bore responsibility for their own demise by their unfaithfulness to God; they did not keep His Covenant. However, what do we do about God’s end of the promise? Will the people’s unfaithfulness negate and make void God’s faithfulness and grace to them? I’m sure it felt that way- just as it might feel that way for us today!
Picture with your mind a big bad Babylonian grabbing our “Zadok” by the feet and the Levite’s fingernails kicking up sparks as he attempts to hold onto the burned stones of the ruined Temple in which he served his entire life. The soldier drags him towards a loaded cart headed for Ur while the whole time the man shouts…“But, God you promised!! In your faithfulness forgive our sin, vanquish our enemy and preserve us! Preserve us O LORD!” Are our own prayers to that point yet- to the desperation of the heartfelt ruin of the Psalmist? The unpleasant illustration is upstaged decades later by God’s answer in 1 Chronicles 6:11-12, and the other stories of the 64 chapters of Chronicles and its painstaking fine print. God answers prayer! He does preserve and He is faithful!
We know nothing about Ahitub, Zadok, and Shallum except that they were Levites and what their job was. Many passages of scripture are tedious for us because we don’t know the people in its pages. We are separated by thousands of years of history that moves fondness and intimacy of memory to silence, but I can guarantee you these names were known by Israel and the original hearers of The Chronicles and they would have rejoiced in the fine print! Just like you would rejoice in the fine print of the accomplished stories of your well known Grandchild! We do know that the Levites’ names occur again in scripture in 1 Chron 9:11, and Nehemiah 11:11 where we are told “Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub was the officer over the house of God” and that these Levite descendants dwelt in their forefathers’ land ISRAEL after the Exile as PRIESTS (1 Chron 9:2). You see, God is faithful to His promises establishing His story in our lives even when we are unfaithful and don’t deserve it. We begin to see as a result, that our own lives and the story that we think we are writing as author is actually HIS STORY illustrating His mercy, His grace and His faithfulness.
If you have a Bible that cross-references names across scripture you will find a very interesting thing in The Chronicles… Yes many names go across its pages never to be mentioned again, but many other names trace the descendants of the original names and show them inheriting their ancestors’ land! God is faithful! And He is writing HIS story because of His faithfulness. Hebrews 11 tells us that we are the spiritual descendants of the Old Testament saints. They did not live to see God’s faithful promises fulfilled in Christ Jesus but their descendants (US) definitely did! So what do we do with God’s faithfulness? How do we respond in our daily living, attitude, and obedience to a God whose faithfulness we can’t always see (Hebrews 11:1)? It is a faithfulness that we sometimes miss because we are hindered by sin (Hebrews 12:1-3) or so wrapped up in ourselves and our own efforts towards success in life that we miss the grace of God and His hands at work. The simple answer is we look for Him at work- first… We need ALWAYS to seek God’s Kingdom and do it before we do anything else. I want to recommend a tool from today’s passages that you can use in seeking God’s Kingdom and that tool is “storytelling”, “story making” and “story writing”. Let’s begin with storytelling…
Storytelling is about the past. It’s about the faithfulness of God up till now in scripture and in your life. One of the passages I gave you was Luke 3, in it Jesus’ genealogy is taken from Jesus backwards in time to Adam- ages of Biblical history! How does the Gospel become contagious and breakout over the entire World? It starts with realizing that the “mustard seed” of the Kingdom- the promise of a helpless little baby boy who is the SON OF GOD, the Savior of the World, has been fulfilled across the obstacles of history by the Divine providence of God. Many things tried to hinder God’s will, love and plan but NOTHING succeeded and as a result our FAITH can confidently say that NOTHING ever will! Just as the faithfulness of God brought us the Savior in Jesus Christ our LORD through the pages and events of biblical history, so God has brought you through your history and circumstances to this point today. Can you tell others the story of God’s faithfulness in your life so far? Will you share the Gospel and the stories of God’s past faithfulness with friends and neighbors? With acquaintances be brief, in your storytelling- be to the point, but for your grandkids and children, those you spend a lifetime with, be specific… Share the fine print like Chronicles like the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. Go deep when the time is right. You might say that your “Story of Salvation” is unremarkable, but listen there is nothing mundane about moving from death to eternal life; from being a condemned sinner to a cherished Child of God! Remember that you’re not just sharing one moment or one experience you are sharing God’s past faithfulness to you- that’s a long, strong, rich and sweet story that gets longer, stronger, richer, and “sweeter as the days go by” especially as we age. The storytelling of God’s past faithfulness is not just reminiscing however as Chronicles and Hebrews tells us it gives us resolve and confidence to live faithfully today by the “stories we are making” as we run the race of this life with Him (Hebrews 12:1-3).
“Story Making” is about the present. If God has been faithful in our pasts, can we trust Him with today? Can we step into and live out boldly His promises and commands today by HIS help and guidance (consider Matthew 28:18-20)? The other genealogy passage comes from Matthew 1; here Matthew begins with Abraham (a man who acted faithfully) and moves up history’s chain to Jesus- to the then present. If Luke is about the “out breaking” of the Kingdom of God, then Matthew is about the in-breaking of Jesus’ Kingdom into our hearts and His changing everything about us. If God is faithful and has changed us, and is WITH US then we can live faithfully, and go about making stories and creating opportunities to share His faithfulness by the way we live, the promises we know, the commands we obey and the people we are becoming as a testimony to others.
Finally, is the beauty of “Story Writing.” Story Writing is about the future. It is not something we do, but something we “submit to.” Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the “author and finisher (perfecter) of our Faith.” When we see God’s faithfulness to us in the past, and act on His faithfulness for today through belief and obedience in Jesus Christ our LORD, God does something amazing! He writes HIS STORY upon our hearts and weaves a living testimony a godly legacy for the benefit of others that far outlast our years upon this earth. Hebrews 12 tells us that we are just as much a part of scripture’s pages as the saints that have come before us. Have you ever thought that the “Word of the LORD” that stands forever is now written not on stone but upon hearts of flesh, upon your heart? That you have been expressly made to reflect His glory and His story as His “image bearer”?
I meet so many unhappy Christians! They are miserable; they have no clue why God allows them to continue to live. Life has become drudgery and a chore in an unending chain of weariness. They feel they have outlived their usefulness, and all they want to do is witness the Second Coming and go home to heaven. I hear them. Who doesn’t want to go home to heaven? Who doesn’t anticipate that day when Jesus returns? Life is hard, especially when we get to that place where God starts to take away more of our worldly and earthly pleasures than He gives- when He starts to empty our hands of things that we used to think were so very important! HOWEVER, God is writing HIS story on our hearts! And in the contrast of the grey drab difficulties of life and the excellent radiant beauty of His Word that is being made manifest in our lives for His glory and the salvation of others His greatness is displayed and our purpose in Creation is fulfilled. And that is a great place to be- a sanctuary of peace and joy in our lives. Peace and joy from a job well done- and a story well written, all because of “Christ in us, the HOPE OF GLORY!” I know in my own life, I don’t want to stop work until the job is not just done right but IS RIGHT! I can’t go home and rest, or enjoy time with friends at the restaurant and movies if it isn’t perfect! If you are still alive today then God has not finished His “Masterpiece” of a story in and through you yet! Remember, HE is your PERFECTER! Your perseverance till the time He does comes and takes you by the hand home to heaven will make the wonder of it all that much sweeter!
So don’t bemoan the fact that He hasn’t returned yet, or that you’re not home yet (I promise you it will be worth it! He is preparing the glories of heaven for you right now, just as much as He has and is equipping you for the difficulties of life in this fallen world). We need to anticipate HIS perfection (a perfect heaven, a perfect earth, a perfect you) and not our own ideas and boundaries of it- remember not even the half has been told… Don’t give up, and don’t resist God’s story writing on your life submit to Him and watch, read and share the Masterpiece He is creating through you by His LIVING WORD. And don’t forget the “fine print” of your Storytelling, Story Making, and God’s Story Writing! Love to you all! Hang in there. I’m praying for you and I’m only an email away… dray@wyliebaptist.org. All the best! Love in Christ, Darrin.