When we tell and retell those stories to ourselves by reading and rereading the Scriptures, by listening to sermons that expand on the texts, by sharing the stories with our children and grandchildren we keep in front of us reminder after reminder of Gods power and favor so that when we face struggles, we can look back and see: God could be trusted then, and God can be trusted today.
Like Nehemiah, Isaiah, and the psalmists, we, too, can look back at Gods track record to have confidence in Him today. Over and over we see stories that pave the way for us to comprehend Jesus work and over and over we see how reviewing the stories helps us trust and know Him more and more. Its as if Nehemiah were saying, Remember how God saved His people then? If He did that then, we can surely trust Him now! The psalmists, too, were pointing back to how God worked wonders long ago, as motivation to worship Him for His power. The telling and retelling can be seen from one text to another: We find references to Gods parting the Red Sea not only in Exodus but also the Psalms (66:6, 78:13, 106:9, and 136:13), Nehemiah 9:11, and Isaiah (23:11, 43:16, and 63:12), where the writers are pointing to Gods track record. Through the ages, Gods people told and retold key stories helping us know the character of God they preserved the stories so we have them today. The plan of salvation is explained in New Testament letters, but the work of salvation is conveyed via stories told throughout Scripture Old Testament stories set the stage for mans sin problem and Gods solution to that problem, leading to the Gospels, which contain the climax of the story, as Jesus died once for all. In fact, were banking our eternity on story. The Bible offers wisdom through proverbs and poetry through psalms it includes laws and letters, genealogies and prophesies, but much of Gods Truth is given in the context of story. Our own lives are unfolding as stories worth telling. Stories have a way of opening us up to the deeper truths hidden in our experiences. Jesus knew that not only children but also adults with spiritual discernment, with ears to hear, would comprehend deeper truths when He told parables stories we would remember, reflect on, and retell. In her book Playdates with God: Having a Childlike Faith in a Grown-up World, Laura Boggess writes, ∼hildren know intuitively that stories help us make sense of the world. These stories made us think, laugh, learn, and wonder, with the Bible stories forming the foundation from which our faith might sprout and grow. Our parents told us stories from their childhood, our teachers read stories from books, and our Sunday school teachers shared stories from the Bible. They served as cautionary tales or models of faith to emulate. The best stories aroused connection, conviction, and compassion in us as we listened.
Since we were children, weve gravitated to stories we love to hear them and tell them.