Rest of the Story

The news makes me long for the words of Paul Harvey…’and now you know the rest of the story.’  There is always more to the story than a reporter can cover.  Frequently aspects of the stories emerge over time and change the entire tenor of a story.  Sometimes, the viewpoint of the newscast alters the content.  Always, there is more to the story than initially known.  Even more importantly, the facts are inadequate to convey the eternal purpose surely woven into the event.   In 1 Corinthians Paul declares that the world is a place of partial knowing.   In fact, he says that when we think we know a thing, we prove we do not.  That is an important principle to consider whenever daily events are looming large…whether in the news or in your personal life.

This world is subject to the deceptive techniques of an enemy who shrouds the truth and often convinces us of lies.  We easily become so puffed up with what we ‘know,’ we are blinded to the rest of the story.  Our biases, our personal experiences and the facts weave together a picture we believe is complete.  It seldom (if ever) is complete.  The rest of the story is only available from the One who sees it all from history past to the glorious future.   Looking at the world from our small perspective, a dismal picture often emerges.  Terror, racism, greed and rage seem to reign.  Those who do not seek the perspective of the King of Kings risk choking on the negativity.

If instead, we look through the lens of faith, the complexities of life become beautiful and not cloudy.  We find possibilities that produce the purposes of our good God.  Consider Jochebed:  pregnant with her third child and living under an edict of death for every newborn male child, her prayer was probably for a baby girl.  That was not the story God had in mind.  She sought wisdom from the Giver of Life and stepped out in faith—obeying the law of the land and opening the door for the miraculous intervention of God.  Placing her beloved child in crocodile-infested waters, God wrote a story that had a princess ‘draw out’ of the river the one who would ‘draw out’ of slavery the people of God.  The author of our story has creativity we can barely imagine.

Jochebed did not know the rest of the story—but she knew the One who wrote the story!  That is all we need as well.  Our destiny is one of victory if we seek the rest of the story from the Author of Salvation.  We must not allow ourselves to be limited by what is seen and known today.  We must dig into the Scriptures to know the Timeless One who longs to love on every soul every created.  Do you know someone living in just part of the story?  Go tell them the rest of the story, so they can rejoice in the Author with us!