BEING HUMAN MEANS STORYTELLING: Esther 4:16.

Posted bySteven WalesPosted inGod is the Hero of This Story, StorytellingTags:, , , ,

Purim is the springtime celebration of the events recorded in the book of Esther. The celebration requires Jews to attend synagogue where they hear the story of Esther read aloud.

Esther may be a bit long to read aloud. But tradition makes it fun: when the name of evil Haman is mentioned, the congregation drowns it out by hissing, stamping their feet, and shaking special rattles called “graggers.” There’s nothing like audience participation to keep everyone’s attention. I’ve seen it on video—it looks like a lot of fun.

Not only that—what a great story! While the Jews are exiled in a foreign land, ruled by a foreign king, Haman comes up with a plan that will allow him to wipe out the Jewish race. Haman drafted the law and the king signed it. But God already had Esther inside the palace, where she bravely faced death, saying: “If I perish, I perish,” Esther 4:16. Instead, she not only stopped Haman’s plans, but God used her to “flip the script”: Haman was hung on the gallows he’d built for Mordecai, and Haman’s people were wiped out by the Jews.

We are a storytelling people.

And who isn’t? EVERYONE loves a good story: books, movies, binge-watching, it’s all stories. Every day, every night, every weekend, every time you see friends: the whole human race, from naked savages to kings and queens spends the majority of its time telling stories.

Storytelling may be the MOST HUMAN thing we do.

And God is a storytelling God.

He loves stories. HIS WORD? It’s all STORIES. Many small stories within one larger romance (that’s right, it’s a LOVE STORY): things were perfect, but they got broken, and we are the woman—the Bride facing death and Jesus is the HERO who sacrifices everything because of His love for His Bride, and He rescues her, defeats the enemy, and the two live happily ever after.

God’s Word is the greatest LOVE STORY. Read it, study it, consume it. Begin with the New Testament.

ΑΩ

*No one I have read articulates the truth of God as storyteller and His word being a romance any better than John Eldredge, in such books as THE SACRED ROMANCE.

Published by Steven Wales

Dad's Daily Devotional began as text messages to my family. I wanted my teenagers to know their father was reading the Bible. But they were at school by then. Initially, I sent them a favorite verse or an insight based on what I read each day. That grew into drafting a devotional readng which I would send them via text. I work as an attorney and an adjunct professor, and recently wrote a book called HOW TO MAKE A'S.

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