THE PLAYWRIGHT

My heart cries out when I hear people say life isn’t worth living anymore. They feel lost and defeated. Nothing has worked out as they have planned. How to convey to them that their past and current circumstances aren’t the end of the story?

Think of a dramatic play that has been written. The playwright is anxious for the drama to unfold before an audience of thousands, but it will never happen if the play manuscript stays in his desk drawer. He needs actors, live people each doing their part, to make the play come alive and to reach its ultimate success.

God, the Author and Finisher of our faith, has given each of us a role to play and part of life is discovering what that role is. For some reason, we think our role should be clear right from the start. Like Joseph, we launch forward to fulfill our dreams (Genesis 37:12-28). We imagine that if we only follow the script (the rules), the applause will thunder in our ears. In reality, we may start out as an understudy once or twice or a dozen times. We may end up in plays that end the first night or last ten years or more, but then something else happens. A page in the script seems to be missing or your leading man or woman messes up his or her lines and leaves you looking like a dunce.

None of that time is wasted, folks. None of it. God can re-write a scene or a whole script. He can weave every misstep into His story. We aid Him in the process when we turn our expectations over to Him, trusting that He truly wants His best for us and the outcome will be greater than we can imagine. For those who trust Him, in the end, all that went before will no longer matter. We will reach our destination, because Jesus wears the victor’s crown! (1 Corinthians 15:57).

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

*Chuck D. Pierce, Glory of Zion International Ministries and Global Spheres, Inc., Corinth, Texas. A Time to Triumph: How to Win the War Ahead, Chosen Books, 2016.