I love a good story. And the thing about the bible is, it's filled with them. Noah's ark, David and Goliath, Daniel and the lions den... the list goes on and on. Don't you just love that about the Bible. That it's filled with stories. I know I do. God could have just left us with a stack of rules to keep. He could have left us with a list of instructions on how to do life in the form of a manual. But He didn't. In the Scriptures, you've got all these different genres of literature. You've got history, and law and poetry and prophecy... But by far and away, the most prominent form of literature in the Bible is narrative. Think about that. Of all the ways GOd could have communicated to us, He chose to do so primarily, through telling stories. The gospels are told in this way. And it was a favorite form of communicating for Jesus in His own teaching. So one of the really great things about the Bible is that it's filled with all of these wonderful stories.
But here's the thing. They're not just stories. These aren't fairy tales. They're true! Peter writes in his second epistle, 'For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes.' {2 Peter 1:16} And what's more, in 1st Corinthians Paul tells us that 'All these events happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us, who live at the time when this age is drawing to a close.' {1 Corinthians 10:11}
So the next time you open your bible, find your way into the story and allow the Spirit of God to shape you through the living word.
God bless
Daniel Bentley
