The Importance of Story in the Bible and Our Lives
It was a Sunday morning in 1993, and Jennifer and I had settled into our seats at our church just north of Miami. Carl, our Sunday School teacher, opened his lesson with an unexpected question. He held up his giant NIV and asked, “Why is the Bible so big?” We all sat and pondered for a minute or two expecting an answer, but our teacher just left the question hanging, and then moved on into his lesson. Over the years, we’ve chuckled about that unorthodox beginning to the lesson, but also wondered, “Why IS the Bible so big?!”
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In past decades I’ve chosen certain years to trace specific themes through the Bible. Topics I’ve explored include God’s glory, the Gospel, and missions. Over the last several years I’ve noticed a growing emphasis among believers, and non-believers alike, in the area of counseling, therapy, and looking at our past experiences, including childhood trauma. I’ve been personally blessed by exploring my own backstory with trusted friends. So, in 2023, I decided to read through the Old and New Testaments, exploring the theme of “story” and pondering what God might have to say to us about engaging our own stories. I was curious to see if there might be an overarching Biblical perspective.
As my year of reading commenced, I soon realized that I needed to approach this theme differently from past ones. When I had studied God’s glory, the natural starting place was to search for the key word, “glory,” see what various passages revealed about it, and then move on to look for examples of God’s glory. In studying “story,” I couldn’t turn to direct propositional teaching, since the Bible doesn’t specifically address the subject. I soon realized, however, that saying the Bible doesn’t mention “story” is akin to saying the ocean never says anything about “water.”
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From a bird’s eye view, I discovered that storytelling is the water that fills the ocean of Scripture, from the micro-stories of the Proverbs to the colorful image-stories of prophetic books, from parables and allegories to the vast expanses of narrative tracing the lives of people, both faithful and profane, in the pages of both testaments. This treasure house of story-telling weaves real life events, emotions, and human relationships together with theological truths, bringing these truths to life with vibrant color and impact. So, my first and overarching realization was that God inspired countless stories to be told to frame and illustrate the truths we must grasp, not just with our minds but also in our hearts and life experiences.
Indeed, the stories in the Bible impact human lives in a multitude of ways. For example:
Stories convict us of sin. 2 Samuel 12:1-4 is a story within a story. In the principle story, David had sinned with Bathsheba, yet seemed to be feeling little remorse. That is, until the prophet Nathan visited and told him a heartbreaking tale of a rich man taking a poor man’s precious lamb. David’s outrage at this story within his story quickly turns to conviction and tears of repentance, as he realizes that he’s guilty of a sin far worse than the one related in Nathan’s parable. God’s commandments against adultery and murder come down like a hammer through the power of story, and the “man after God’s own heart” is set free to live out and then compose Psalm 51. Which, by the way, illustrates another purpose of storytelling…
Stories frame artistic expressions. Knowing the tragic backstory of David’s sin enriches our own experience of Psalm 51. This principle holds with many of the Psalms and other forms of wisdom literature in Scripture. For example, we can’t help but read the words of Psalm 3 through different eyes, once we know it was composed at a moment of devastation in David’s life.
“Many are saying of my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in God.’ But you, O LORD, are a shield about me.” (v.2-3)
David composed this Psalm as he was fleeing, heartbroken, from his own violent and usurping son, Absalom. Framed by story, the Psalm touches a deeper place in our own hearts. Isn’t it likely that our own backstories might frame God’s truths in a similar way?
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Stories also clarify and encapsulate theological truths. When an expert in the Law asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), the Lord could have responded with a direct statement like, “Actually, all people are your neighbors, even the ones who are different from you.” Instead, Jesus chose to tell a story. And that story is now stamped indelibly on the minds of countless people around the world. It’s the story of the Good Samaritan. I have a Turkish friend who follows Jesus. He was walking home one night and saw a man stumbling and falling on the side of the road. He was about to pass by on the far side when he remembered this parable. He stopped in his tracks to help the man who was in crisis. That man turned out to be a fellow Turk living in Bucharest. My friend was able to minister to him in a significant way because of Jesus’ parable.
This illustrates the fact that stories often inspire us to acts of obedience. As secular broadcaster, Aleks Krotoski, puts it, “Stories are memory aids, instruction manuals and moral compasses.”
Finally, we must remember that the Gospel itself is a story! God invites us to immerse our minds, hearts and souls in the life-changing narrative that the Word became flesh and lived among us. We’re not called to trust in a creed alone, but in the true story of a sinless man who was crushed for our sin, yet bodily rose from the grave in resounding victory. As we see the preponderance of narrative in the Scripture, we shouldn’t be surprised to discover that the culmination of God’s saving and sanctifying message is the story of a Person.
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Recognizing the prevalence of story in the pages of the Bible, let’s turn back now to the question at hand- Is God inviting us, as believers, to robustly engage our own backstories? I believe the answer is a resounding “yes!” God is a storytelling God, and we’re invited to imitate Him by becoming storytelling people. I see two main ways of doing this that echo and reflect the stories of Scripture:
First, we testify to God’s presence and work in our lives. We see God showing up across the pages of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The authors never hesitate in letting readers know the identity of the Hero of the narrative. In story after story we see the Triune God at work in frail humanity, creating, protecting, nurturing, saving, sanctifying, healing, reconciling, and loving His children in a myriad of ways! Now, it’s our chance to follow the example of Scripture in telling of God’s powerful and loving interventions in our own narratives. May God give us growing skill in telling stories of how His Gospel of grace has impacted our lives in tangible and transformational ways.
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Second, we resolve to share the brokenness of our lives, in appropriate contexts. During my year studying this theme in Scripture, one of the biggest surprises was the prevalence of messy, confusing, and tragic stories. A large number of Bible narratives leave us without a happy ending. Sometimes we’re even unsure of the moral message of the story. We may dare to wonder why it’s in the Bible. I don’t think this ambiguity is an oversight on God’s part. In fact, the messiness of Scripture opens the doors for us to bring our own disturbing stories to the light, even when no happy ending or clear lesson seems possible. God invites us to make our stories known, so they can be heard, lamented, and honored. The prevalence of heartbreaking stories in Scripture leaves a clear message to us as God’s people. Even the most shameful episodes of our past don’t have to remain hidden away in dark rooms of our subconscious, to fester and infect our lives. We’re invited among trustworthy friends to follow the example of the Bible in daring to bring our tragic sadnesses into His healing light.
As I concluded my year of exploring the theme of “story” it occurred to me that after thirty plus years, I’d stumbled across a viable answer to Carl’s Sunday School question! The Bible has to be quite large. That’s the only way for God to fit in all stories He wants to tell us! These tales range from the tragic and shameful to the exalted and redemptive. Our lives are a storybook as well, full of heartache as well as innumerable glimpses of God’s transforming grace. I sense the Lord exhorting us to plumb the depths of these stories in His presence and in community. Doing so, we’re sure to discover and share previously unknown vistas of His amazing beauty and love.
Written by Dave Cox