Stories are powerful as conveyors of truth and value. You can tell me a fact, but the truth may be better communicated by a story. I ran across this example in Genesis today.
Genesis 37 through 50 we read the story of Joseph. We’re early in the biblical narrative at this point, and not a lot has been revealed about God’s character, but a lot hasn’t been revealed yet. We enter the story in the middle east where Abraham’s son’s Isaac’s grandkids (the sons of Jacob aka “Israel”) are still claiming Abraham’s God as their God.
Joseph’s brothers were going to kill him for being an annoying and boastful little brother, but they change their minds and sell him as a slave to Ishmaelites (grand-kids of Abraham’s other son Ishmael, Isaac’s brother). They take Joseph and sell him to a powerful government official (the captain of his guard) in Egypt named Potiphar. In Genesis 39, Potiphar lifts Joseph to be his employee in charge of everything he has. The bible tells us why. Genesis 39:2-3 says “The LORD was with Joseph, so that he prospered…. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him successin everything e did… Potiphar put him in charge of his household.”
Potiphar’s wife had the hots of Joseph and kept trying to entice him to sleep with her. He refused every day, until one day she tried to pull him to bed by his coat. He fled, but she had him thrown in jail. Back down to the bottom again. But, Genesis 39:20-23 says “The LORD was with him… So the warden put Joseph ni charge of all those held in the prison… because the LORD was with Joseph… ”
The story goes on and Joseph is put in charge of all of Egypt to save the people from death-by-famine until Joseph’s brothers come to buy food from Egypt, and after a long time of not revealing who he is, Joseph finally reveals himself and has Pharoah’s blessing to have his father and his whole family move to Egypt. As Jacob prepares to leave Israel, God speaks to him.
Jacob is about to leave the land to which God sent Abraham. This is the physical property God promised to his descendants and he’s about to leave. At the time, God was still known as the God of Abraham. Jacob’s father-in-law had his own household gods where he lived. In Egypt there were other gods. God confirms he’s more than just a territorial spirit by telling Jacob “I will go down to Egypt with you…”
But we don’t need to be told this. We already know because we’ve seen God be with Joseph in Egypt. More than the mere fact that he’s present, we’ve watched the story unfold of what it really means for God to be with someone.
Telling the story, in fact, was a better way of communicating the truth of God being with someone rather than just stating the fact.
It seems that this should influence how I teach my kids and how I teach in ministry.
Your thoughts?
