Fall Book Study Lesson 1: Why a Story?
What’s so important about a story?
You might be curious why Restore focuses so much on stories. You’d agree that you want to give your soul rest, and that you want to grow closer to God—but a story seems a strange way to do it. We’re more used to programs offering us action steps, or rules to follow, or “3 Things We Need to be Closer to God.” Those are practical things, that all claim to help you.
So why would we focus on stories instead?
Stories are how we see the world. It’s the only way we can make sense of it. Our brains are wired to see a when, why, and how for everything—a story in everything. It’s much like a crime scene or a mystery: we see clues and instantly start piecing together the story of what happened.
Since stories are how we understand our lives, if we tell ourselves a wrong story, our lives will suffer. If we wrongly interpret a clue in the mystery, then our whole story will be wrong. It works the same way in our real lives. If we don’t understand our stories, then the facts will be disjointed and not fit together, and we will be left confused and frustrated.
It’s much like trying to paint a painting with those bristly wire brushes used for barbecue grilling—it will distort the intended image, damage the canvas itself, leave you discouraged and defeated, and define the painting as something rough, harsh, and ugly. In the same way, a wrong view of our story will distort how we live and love, damage our souls, leave us discouraged and defeated, and define our stories as something without love or reason for living.
The stories we tell ourselves matter. The way we see our own stories matters. And whether or not we let God define our stories matters most of all.
What God Wants for Your Story
We don’t know where you are today. Maybe you’re a young mother distracted with the many demands of diapers and dishes and missed date nights. God wants you to be swept up by his glory, finding rest and relief in him. Maybe you’re a married couple putting your hope in circumstances changing, just waiting for the job promotion, or the move to escape your troublesome neighbors, or just hoping for the time when you no longer struggle with this illness. God invites you to find your hope in his unchanging love, even if your circumstances never change. Maybe you’re a man who’s denying the painful realities of your story, whether that was distant parents, or the death of a loved one, or even abuse. God invites you to face those realities with him, in the refuge of his strong arms and in the comfort of his tender mercy.
We don’t know where you are today, and what hurts and hopes and struggles you bear. Maybe as you sit here today looking at the world and your life, you are overwhelmed by the wickedness, injustice, and sadness of your story. But we do know that God wants you to shift your gaze toward Christ so you can see how your story is consumed and transformed by his big story of relentless, redeeming love.
“We don’t know where you are today, and what hurts and hopes and struggles you bear. But we do know that God wants you to shift your gaze toward Christ so you can see how your story is transformed by his story of relentless, redeeming love.”
God wants you to understand your story—and to let it intersect with his. His story is not just one that is told, but one that is lived.
And when you live his story, you will experience his love sustaining you, guiding you in your confusion, and comforting you in your suffering.
Once we see our story and God’s together, we see how all the pieces fit together from his perspective. And we see that it all points back to Jesus as redeemer and healer. As you look at God, he will draw you closer to himself and to others
You can be confident that God will reframe how you see and experience life, as well as how you see and experience him. Christ will restore your soul as you abide in his love and find rest in him. God will redeem your story as he takes what was meant for evil and uses it to free you to love him and to live for him. You will look back and see how God’s story has engulfed your story as the darkness fades, the fears subside, the bondage is loosened, and the sorrow turns to joy.
As we start our study of Restore this week, we hope you take that step of faith to look at your story as you keep your eyes on God. In this series, we won’t go through each lesson, but rather share some personal stories and pastoral reflection to encourage you and allow you to see the heart behind Restore as you work through it yourself. Next week we’ll see how we need to start with our stories, but then see why we need to move towards God’s bigger and more beautiful story.
Prayer: Lord, thank you that you are the Master Storyteller, who has worked through all of history, and has and is working through every part of our stories. Give us the courage to face every part of our story, knowing that we can know you more fully through it. Help us to see our stories from your perspective, and draw us closer to you. In Jesus name, Amen.
