In the beginning, when God made all things, i believe He created a thing called “stories”, and then put the need in man’s heart to need parables, romances, records, and chronicles. God saw the need in man’s heart for the ability to recite that which had already occurred, a description of past events, and to this idea of stories, He also added a heaping double tablespoon of remembrance. Stories are a way of recording life, communicating with others, and even creating inspirational images for the listeners or readers to play as often as they want, like a video reel in each person as they imagine what they heard or read.
What are stories then and why are they important? From my perspective, stories are narratives, something told, retold or recounted, which convey our experiences, ideas, and even emotions through some type of plot, complete with characters and props which aid in the telling of the story. They can be fictional or true, oral or written, and often aim to entertain, educate, or inspire. They are powerful to shape cultures, preserve histories, and connect people across time, helping us to envision empathy and imagination. Stories are a fundamental part of our human experience, and are a bridge between individuals, cultures, and generations. So, so much of the Bible is story after story, parable after parable, metaphor and idiom buried in narratives, themes, and stories, over and over and over. Why would God do that? Stories are a brilliant idea invented by God and built of words or pictures. They captivate our imagination, recall and arouse emotions, and many times cultivate empathy by allowing us to step into someone else’s shoes for a moment.
Through narratives and stories, we explore complex themes, confront moral dilemmas, and find meaning in chaos, making sense of the world around us, and we also use stories in an effort to understand and reckon with the intersection of The Divine and ourselves. The stories, metaphors, and idioms are inventions God gave man so that man, the finite, would have a way of relating to God, the infinite.
Like the Old Testament stories start with the birth of the universe, the fall of man kind, and include the multi-faceted stories of the faithfulness of God, friends and those who oppose God, slaves to freedom, rebellion and redemption. The story of Abraham and his three “Hear i am’s”, his leaving here and going there recounting the adventure and drama of all the life and times which he lived between his leaving and arriving. Imagine the stories in the metaphor heavy Psalms read in parallel with the story of David all the way to David’s last breath.
This was all God’s idea to put it in the heart of man to need stories. Think, stories preserve history and cultural identity, the pass down values, traditions, and lessons through generations. From ancient cultures to modern novels, they shape our understanding of the past and allow us a glimpse into the Heart of God to inspire future possibilities. The ancient Jews used something called oral Torah, passed from one generation to another, father to son, father to son and so on until today. Their oral tradition served to unite communities, creating shared experiences that strengthen moral, ethical, and social bonds.
As example there is Passover which is celebrated every year. The idea of celebrating Passover is to “tell the story” of God’s great deliverance for Israel. In re-telling the story we recall the trials, hardship, and deliverance of Israel from slavery to the blood of the lamb, complete with God bringing plagues upon Egypt, Moses calling to “Let my people go!”, to the spectacular parting of the Red Sea. The retelling of the Passover story inspires us to imagine, from Egypt to the promised land, of God’s ability to deliver His people. The Lord is faithful!
Biblical stories are timeless links to ancient traditions, legends, archetypes, myths, symbols and the poetry of metaphor and idiom. In our effort as finite beings, we struggle, in our limited vocabulary to describe the infinity of God in an attempt and intention to relate to the one called “the Beginning and End”, “the first and last”, “Lion of Judah and Lamb of God”. As a result we tell God-stories and write God-thoughts which connect us to God.
We tell stories which might start out saying, “one time we were praying” and then there follows a series of supernatural happenings. Or we open with, “He is like” followed by a series of comparisons describing His glorious character and personality traits, His qualities, behaviors, attitudes, and values. We tell the story of Jesus for others that they would know our God and King, that they too could be set free from sin, death, hell, and the grave. God is NOT that hard to know, we’ve just got to find our “want to”.
Stories challenge our assumptions, spark curiosity, and encourage critical thinking. Yea, critical thinking. Now there’s something we all desperately need. Whether through books, films, or oral traditions, stories provide a safe space to explore honesty, humility, compassion, understanding and their practical applications. Like in Mark 12:30-31 Jesus says to “love your neighbor as you love yourself“. In our story telling we can explore how we are going to love ourselves so we have an idea of how to love our neighbor. Stories make, what appears as abstract concepts relatable. One man said, “they make life touchable and influence us to repent, believe, and follow”.
Friends go with me on this. From cover to cover the Bible is personal and relational. From cover to cover it is the story of God and His ultimate goal, His mission, otherwise known as the “missiology of God”, to be known and for Him to know us. It’s the story of God’s house and the Kingdom of God.
Tell your story of redemption. Tell it. Ultimately, our stories are vital because they connect us, teach us, and inspire us to dream and believe, reflect and speculate, to cultivate and grow. Everyone has a story or two. Tell the story of your path to Jesus, oh, and please spend more time on the goodness of God than the badness of yourself. Remember, ultimately, stories are vital because they connect us to God, to each other, and as a testimony to the dying world around us. Tell your story and watch God move.