Testimonies of happy endings

Do you ever hear testimonies in church or just life-sharing from other believers that sound honest, wonderful, even thrilling, but fall something short of encouraging to you because their story is finished with such a perfect, happy ending? They tell of tough times, but then God comes through in just the most awesome ways and everything sounds like it’s great.

You know God’s faithfulness in your life, and you can certainly tell of His provisions and loving presence. But right now it just seems you’re due for the cavalry to come riding in on their horses, yet you can’t hear any hoof beats.

There’s nothing biblically wrong with believers telling stories of God’s happy endings, but to be thoroughly biblical about it, we have to include some of the times when life hurts a lot and you just can’t feel the Lord nearby.

God spoke to us about those parts of real life throughout the Bible. He tells plenty of stories where His children were wondering when the hurt was going to end, and even wondering if He was still listening. In Genesis 37 through 40 we hear about Joseph’s time thrown in the pit by his brothers, sold to slavers, unjustly accused by Potiphar’s wife, imprisoned, and forgotten by the cupbearer. Even when he’s number two man in all of Egypt, he’s still estranged from his family and his homeland. Don’t forget to read chapter 50 where you get an incredible testimony from Joseph that he knows – at least he knows now – that the Lord was with Him throughout.

David is hunted by Saul for selfish, evil reasons and many of the Psalms find David crying out to the Lord to show He knows and cares. Elijah experiences God’s great victory on Mount Carmel, but then runs for his life as Queen Jezebel promises to see him dead. (1 Kings 19) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego tell the king when he’s throwing them in the fiery furnace: “ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3)

And the most chilling of all is when Jesus cries out at the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Note that the others mentioned above cried out in lack of knowledge or lack of faith, but honest, heart-deep suffering. Jesus is the only one who is absolutely correct in his cry. The Father truly had forsaken him, laying upon his perfect and sinless self the sins of us all so that our debt could be paid and by grace, through faith, we could receive eternal life in Jesus Christ. But the Father faithfully, through the Spirit, raised the Son on the third day in triumph over sin and death. (Romans 1:4)

Our story in Christ really does have the perfect, joyful, triumphant ending, but a price and a life holding plenty of suffering along the way is the true path to that triumph. Let’s make sure to tell our children, ourselves, and others those stories, too. The testimonies in the pit and the prison and the furnace and running for your life and even on the Cross are all stories of God’s complete faithfulness. The glorious ending has been written; it’s just not being completely experienced by us yet. And living in the now and the not yet holds a lot of very real hurt through which we need to cling to our loving Lord who knows every bit of that suffering.