The Missing Piece and the Power of the Story

I recently came across a headline that read, “30-Year-Old Man Marries 4-Year-Old Girl.” Immediately, that didn’t sit right. What came to mind was a sick, predatory crook preying on the innocence of somebody’s helpless, vulnerable daughter. However, it’s not what it seems.

The story begins with a young girl who developed leukemia at two years old. At four, she began to form a strong friendship with her thirty-year-old nurse and told her mom that she wanted to marry him. Of course, her mother didn’t take her seriously but nonetheless decided to text the nurse at her daughter’s urging, asking if he could “marry” her. Likely knowing she didn’t have much time left, the man agreed. The marriage wasn’t legal, but the young girl was able to walk down the aisle, carrying a bouquet, while the smiling hospital staff and the girl’s mother looked on.

Regardless of whether you agree with the adults’ decisions here, it is undeniable that such information changes our understanding of the story.

We often make judgements about stories, situations, others, and God based on limited—or skewed—information. There is power in a story, who tells it, and what information is and is not provided. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls this the power and danger of a single story. When we are told repeatedly what or who a person or people group is, in our minds, that is who they become.

As a result, we must not only be aware of our beliefs and biases but of the stories we hear that shape our perception. Is the story of Noah about an impatient God who overreacts and all but kills off the entire human race because He is so inflamed? Or is it about a patient and just God graciously rescuing a righteous man and his family and saving a remnant of the earth’s population, which had become so offensively wicked?

In the words of Dr. David Walsh, “Whoever tells the stories defines the culture.” Stories teach us what to value and challenge our reality. They change us and shape our identity and how we view others, God, and ourselves.

As Christians, we are changed not just by information, history, or text but by a story; indeed, the redeemed of the Lord tell their story (Ps. 107:2). Yet because stories have power, there is also danger that comes with them. Second Peter 2:2-3 tells us that false teachers will bring the way of truth into disrepute, and in their greed they will “exploit you with fabricated stories.”

What story are you telling, and how do you begin? Who is the hero? What are you afraid to include or leave out? What do your listeners think about others and God when you’re finished? What do you want them to learn or to think?

We live in a world of not only fabricated stories but competing voices that vie for our hearts and minds. This means that ultimately, the question is not, “Are you believing a story?” but “Which story do you believe?” What headlines about God are painting Him as manipulative, controlling, or undesirable, when He is the portion of our hearts (Ps. 73:26) and at His throne are eternal pleasures (Ps. 16:11)? What slogans are you hearing that call into question aspects of the character of our Beloved? Will you fall prey to the deception of the single story?

Our world is at war with God, and, tragically, it can seem like other stories are winning out. However, what our world says is the end is a falsehood we cannot believe. As children of the Author, we know the best is yet to come.

In the meantime, while we wait, let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.