…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith… – Hebrews 12:1c-2a
Our stories don’t always make sense to us. They don’t unfold the way we would have written them if it was up to us. They are full of unpredictable plot twists that catch us by surprise. They can be joyful one page and painful the next. God simply doesn’t do things our way. And that’s a good thing. For His ways are always good, right, wise, and loving. Yet as unforeseeable as how God works in our lives often is to us, there is also something wonderfully reassuring in the knowledge that He is indeed always at work. It’s like we’ve seen this all a thousand times before. Our hero rushes in at just the right moment to save the day. As unpredictable as it is, it is also anticipated. God has proven Himself faithful over and over again. As with any good narrative, questions unfold as the story does. How will God provide? What kind of people will we become? How will God work through us to help others? Where are we going in life? What good will come from this suffering? When will this trial end? Why is this so hard? Do we win in the end? How will this serve God’s purpose? How will my story tell the greatest story ever told? Who’s the real hero? Spoiler alert: That’s Jesus! We may not know how this chapter ends, and the next one begins, but we trust that God knows exactly what He is doing in every scene of our lives. By faith, we travel the course marked out on its pages, knowing that the end of our story has been written, and it’s wonderful. We don’t know what comes next with each turn of the page, and it won’t always make sense to us, but it doesn’t have to. Because our faith is in the One who does know the happily-ever-after ending to our story. After all, He’s the One who wrote it.
