Now I don't know about you, but I like stories that have happy endings. Good guy ends up with good girl, bad guy gets justice for his rotten behavior... happily ever after and all that stuff. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy that mid-story plot twist that brings in an added element of drama as much as the next gal, but in the end, what I want is "and they lived happily ever after."
In case you didn't know, there are a TON of movies that have terrible endings. There are tons of books that don't have happy endings. You may be surprised to find out that not all the stories in the Bible end with "and they all lived happily ever after." You would think that, of all the things we could read, the Bible would be full of happy endings.
While the big picture of the Bible (the revelation of God and restoration of Man) totally has a happy ending, the stories that make up that bigger story aren't all hearts, flowers, and happily ever afters. For example, Bathsheba and Tamar have TRAGIC stories. Their lives cause me serious anxiety because... well, I like hope. I find comfort in knowing that God is FOR me, that He SEES my hurt and He will MAKE IT RIGHT.
Thing is, life just isn't always like that. Right? Are you nodding along with me yet? Cancer doesn't always go into remission. People don't love you back. People leave. People lie. The bad guys don't always get caught. We lose jobs. We lose children. Our hearts ache and our palms sweat and our stomachs knot and, honestly, sometimes, no matter how hard we try, things don't work out in the end.
Such seems to be the case for Bathsheba and Tamar. They suffered more pain at the hands of men than I care to think about. Go ahead and read their stories here and here. I'll wait.
Goodness, those ladies did not get anything close to a happily ever after.... at least not by my definition. When I read their stories, I am BROKEN. How could a God who loves us allow such things? (and we all know that this kind of horror still happens every day) Before you get upset and decide that God is 'wrong", let's look at something... 'cause this is one of those situations where "God's ways are not our ways." Even without a "happily ever after," these ladies got more justice than you or I could have EVER handed out or ever dreamed up and delivered!
While it may not have seemed like it at the time, it is quite obvious that God Almighty saw what was done to Bathsheba and He did make it right. In Matthew 1, where we are given the lineage of Jesus, check out verse 6 here. Do you SEE that???? I've heard it before, but a Ladies Small group lesson recently highlighted, bolded, and italicized it for me. God calls David out... right there for all eternity. "Bathsheba was URIAH's wife." Wow. Not only is her story recorded so that forever and ever we know that her fate was David's doing and not her own, God notes her true place... as Uriah's wife.
And what about Tamar? Her story is recorded as well. Anyone who reads Tamar's story sees her innocence. Even though the men in her life failed her miserably, her story is recorded for all time. the evil Amnon did to her is recorded and the injustice she suffered as a result is recorded as well. It is as though God wanted to make sure that her side of the story was told.
Maybe these stories needed to be told for Bathsheba's and Tamar's sake. Maybe they needed to be told for you and for me...
Maybe we need to be reminded that life doesn't always have happy endings, but that doesn't negate the ultimate happy ending we will have when we meet Christ in heaven and spend eternity there.
Maybe need to be reminded that GOD sees the truth and is very present in our lives even when we feel like He is far from us.
Maybe we need to be reminded that God's ways are not ours and His justice is perfect and better than anything we could dream up... we just have to trust Him.
Just my thoughts,
K
In case you didn't know, there are a TON of movies that have terrible endings. There are tons of books that don't have happy endings. You may be surprised to find out that not all the stories in the Bible end with "and they all lived happily ever after." You would think that, of all the things we could read, the Bible would be full of happy endings.
While the big picture of the Bible (the revelation of God and restoration of Man) totally has a happy ending, the stories that make up that bigger story aren't all hearts, flowers, and happily ever afters. For example, Bathsheba and Tamar have TRAGIC stories. Their lives cause me serious anxiety because... well, I like hope. I find comfort in knowing that God is FOR me, that He SEES my hurt and He will MAKE IT RIGHT.
Thing is, life just isn't always like that. Right? Are you nodding along with me yet? Cancer doesn't always go into remission. People don't love you back. People leave. People lie. The bad guys don't always get caught. We lose jobs. We lose children. Our hearts ache and our palms sweat and our stomachs knot and, honestly, sometimes, no matter how hard we try, things don't work out in the end.
Such seems to be the case for Bathsheba and Tamar. They suffered more pain at the hands of men than I care to think about. Go ahead and read their stories here and here. I'll wait.
Goodness, those ladies did not get anything close to a happily ever after.... at least not by my definition. When I read their stories, I am BROKEN. How could a God who loves us allow such things? (and we all know that this kind of horror still happens every day) Before you get upset and decide that God is 'wrong", let's look at something... 'cause this is one of those situations where "God's ways are not our ways." Even without a "happily ever after," these ladies got more justice than you or I could have EVER handed out or ever dreamed up and delivered!
While it may not have seemed like it at the time, it is quite obvious that God Almighty saw what was done to Bathsheba and He did make it right. In Matthew 1, where we are given the lineage of Jesus, check out verse 6 here. Do you SEE that???? I've heard it before, but a Ladies Small group lesson recently highlighted, bolded, and italicized it for me. God calls David out... right there for all eternity. "Bathsheba was URIAH's wife." Wow. Not only is her story recorded so that forever and ever we know that her fate was David's doing and not her own, God notes her true place... as Uriah's wife.
And what about Tamar? Her story is recorded as well. Anyone who reads Tamar's story sees her innocence. Even though the men in her life failed her miserably, her story is recorded for all time. the evil Amnon did to her is recorded and the injustice she suffered as a result is recorded as well. It is as though God wanted to make sure that her side of the story was told.
Maybe these stories needed to be told for Bathsheba's and Tamar's sake. Maybe they needed to be told for you and for me...
Maybe we need to be reminded that life doesn't always have happy endings, but that doesn't negate the ultimate happy ending we will have when we meet Christ in heaven and spend eternity there.
Maybe need to be reminded that GOD sees the truth and is very present in our lives even when we feel like He is far from us.
Maybe we need to be reminded that God's ways are not ours and His justice is perfect and better than anything we could dream up... we just have to trust Him.
Just my thoughts,
K
