Beautiful … In Its Time
What kind of books do you like to read? Fiction or non-fiction? Romance, mystery, thriller, action and adventure, biography, fantasy, educational, and sci-fi are just a few of the many genres of books. If you read non-fiction you hope that it is based upon factual information and not simply the author’s interpretation of those facts. If it is fiction that you enjoy, you probably have your favorite authors, those storytellers who keep you turning the pages. Most fiction authors agree that a good story needs to have five components to make it a compelling and entertaining read – characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution.
If mysteries interest you, then you know that a red herring is a false or misleading clue that the author inserts into the story with the intention of distracting the reader. Red herrings are considered informal fallacies (as compared to formal) because they are flaws in reasoning rather than flawed logic.
A good writer also knows that there is a real art to ending a story. Generally, there are six types of endings used by most writers – resolved, unresolved, expanded, unexpected, ambiguous, and tied. You can probably figure out what most of these endings are, but as way of explanation, an expanded ending is just another way to describe the story’s epilogue, and a tied ending simply means the story ends where it began, the story has come full circle.
God is writing a story. Every human being is in His story. His story is full of twists and turns, ups and downs, joys and tears, seemingly impossible situations, scenery changes, and mystery. We are in the middle of God’s story, and isn’t it true, just as we sometimes judge a book or its author after only reading hallway through, we tend to question God as to why He has chosen to write the story in the fashion that He has.
God’s story has a happy, beautiful, and inspiring ending. We will not be left wondering about how the main character will survive or lamenting over the fact that the villain seems to get away with everything. In the end, it will be clear that God’s story is the best story ever written.
The first eight verses of Ecclesiastes 3 are the well-known “There is a time for everything” statements arguing for God’s sovereignty. Pop culture knows these eight statements well, as they are also found in the song “Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There is a Season)” written by Pete Seeger and popularized by the Byrds.
And not only is it true that God has a season for everything, another truth can be found a few verses later – “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (v.11a). So today, trust God in the middle of the story. Whatever it is that you are facing today, if you trust in the goodness and kindness of God, you can have confidence that God is not done with your story and that your story will be a beautiful story… in its time.
Note from Dave: I will be taking a few days off from writing to enjoy the long holiday weekend.