Hi. I can’t remember the exact conversations. But I’ve recently had some that returned to those reliable Christian themes that, a. God has a plan, and b. one day, in heaven, He’ll tell you what His was for you. What do you think of that? Personally, I totally believe the first one. God has a plan for what’s going on in your life. But I’m only a little sold on the second one, that one day He’ll tell you, specifically, what it was.
Let me back up. Usually, these conversations happen when people are going through hard, or at least confusing, times in their lives. People don’t usually ask why God lets pleasant things happen. He’s God; that’s enough reason for the things we like. (Mental note that I probably won’t follow up on: If we want to know God’s greater purpose for bad things in our lives, we ought also to want to know His greater purpose for the good things.) But for painful losses, suffering, or even plain old uncertainties, we really wish we knew why God does what He does—or allows what He allows. What’s the reason? What’s the meaning behind trials?
So we take comfort that God knows what is best and is working it out in the world around us for good. And we should. I don’t question that. I question how He might reveal His reasons to us. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that God is trying to hide His plan from you. I am suggesting that the mental image of someone standing before the Almighty in heaven, getting explanations for what happened in this life is, well, amiss. Will Jesus still be the good shepherd who is gentle with his own? Of course. Will God wipe away every tear, along with all mourning and pain? Certainly. Will He simply tell you His reasons for letting things happen? I don’t know about that.
It seems to me God is more creative than that, and so are we. What are the best stories? The ones that draw you in and make you think about the point. What are the worst stories? The ones that just tell you what they mean with a lot of boring and heavy-handed exposition. And who likes it when someone just tells you how a story ends before you get the chance to read it or see it—to figure it out—for yourself? We don’t want spoilers for the stories we’re most interested in. We want to discover the meaning for ourselves.
What if one day in eternity, God offers not a solution but a story? What if His answers were not explanations but examples? What if His answers were questions? What if He’s less interested in us knowing what He knows than us seeing what He sees?
There’s a joy in discovery and I think God will grant us that joy one day. Rather than just telling us His purposes, He might just give us that chance to see our stories again, from other perspectives. “Look again,” the Father may say. “Did you notice this part? Do you remember when she said that? Here’s something you didn’t see before. Look again. Watch this. See what happened when you said this? See that happened when they did that? Look again.”
God has always been a storyteller. Perhaps one day we’ll see the story of our lives again, and again, from new perspectives. Yes, we’ll probably get that chance in heaven, but what about now? What stops us from trying to see our stories from different angles today? Look, we have hope because we believe one day God will tell us, or show us, why our lives had meaning. If that’s true, then our lives have meaning now. It’s in the details. Look again. You might not see it now but it still matters. Don’t fall into the trap of acting like it does not matter just because you can’t see how yet. You’ll discover the meaning one day. The story will come together. Make the details count today.