Month: April 2021

Whether the hard events of our life are a normal theatrical release or an extended edition, we all can be tempted to sit in the Director’s chair.

“Mister Director, this is not the script I wanted…”

LIFE. Nobody gets out of it alive, ironically, yet strangely, such short statements are hardly a source of consolation for those whose experiences are anything but ideal. We all grow up having hopes and dreams for our future, at any age, but what happens when the facts of our serious disappointments don’t measure up to our expectations? It was William Shakespeare who famously once said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;” (As You Like It), and his assessment is pretty accurate to the truth. While we are not puppets, because we have the divine gift of free will, we are still insignificant chess pieces in the grand scheme of God’s ultimate purpose and plan for the universe that HE created. The very word “history” itself combines the words “his” and “story,” showing God’s relation to mankind which He made with His own hands. With this knowledge, all humans created in His divine image are faced with a perpetual burning question that is universal to the human experience in this sinful, fallen world:

What are we supposed to do when we feel like the Director isn’t following the script we imagined for ourselves? Do we panic when we feel helpless about what’s happening onscreen?

We all think we have some idea of how our lives should go, based on society’s expectations and pressure it puts on us, which in turn, are founded on events that have transpired since the Garden of Eden. This is further complicated when we create our own imagined scenarios in our hearts and heads that generate from our innermost desires and thoughts. We all have a very unique backstory, with different set pieces, characters, conflicts, tension, action, and themes. All of these elements combined form an original script that plays out the story of our lives. Based on all of the established information in the introduction of the script, we as humans try our best to guess the plot before it has a chance to play out. However, no matter how many plot twists await us in our lives, God doesn’t believe in giving us spoilers.

Since we know that it is His divine prerogative as the Director of our life story to orchestrate the events we see unfold, why is it so difficult for us to trust Him with the ultimate outcome?

There are many reasons for this, and thankfully for our sake, our Creator is more than compassionate enough to understand our natural, human reactions to these unexpected plot twists. He also has divine wisdom to compensate for our limitations in trusting Him.

Here are just a few common reasons that account for our universal, human struggle –

Reason #1: We can only see through the scope of the lens of our limited, finite perspective.

This might run the risk of sounding oversimplified, but we are humans, and God is GOD. Only He can see the ultimate end of all things, in every sense of the phrase. As the Alpha and Omega, He is the Author and Finisher of the script He’s written for His creations. Since we are not infinite as He is, we don’t have the divine advantage of knowing not only the future, but also every imaginable circumstance that provides the context of the lives of every single person on the planet. Because we only have access to our own script one page at a time, it can be easy for us to start questioning our role that we play in our own plot, or even the plot itself. We must remember that even though we are limited to our own perspective on the stage of our lives, the Divine Director can see everything on the set of His Creation from ALL angles. He can move cameras and set pieces around that we probably are not even aware exist in our script, much less have the power to control them. God is determined to make the greatest production possible through the resources of His infinite power. Even if our personal perspective is out of focus, we can find peace in knowing that our Director commands the overall view of our original production.

Reason #2: We cannot control the roles others choose to play in our lives.

When we are carrying out the scenes in our scripts, we interact with a full cast of characters of all kinds. These characters all have their own unique scripts too, which they can choose to follow or turn down at will. Just like actors and actresses, people can and do affect our lives in multiple ways, for better or worse. Some who initially choose to sign onto the project of our scripts might suddenly decide to walk off the set at any time, for any reason. Alternatively, the divine Director might make His own executive decision to write them out of the script. Sometimes this is simply because of outstanding circumstances in their own scripts beyond their control; other times it is because of a deliberate decision they choose to make. Although they said they were dedicated to the role they chose to play in our lives, for whatever reasons they decided that the part just wasn’t for them. They fully know the part they were supposed to play, but they refuse to stick to the script and abandon the project altogether. Whether the reasons they had for walking away for were valid, or born of pure selfishness, we cannot force them to honor their metaphorical contract with us. Does this mean the divine Director necessarily approves of their choice, or the way they may have unprofessionally exited stage left?

Not always.

But, regardless of their decision, the Director knows that the show must go on. He doesn’t throw away our whole script just because some people choose to not follow it along with us.

Reason #3: Our plot tends to unfold in the darkness of the film Developer’s studio.

Our Director has been planning the plots of our lives since before we were born, and is intent on bringing them to an expected end. Just as God had plans for the Universe in the darkness of the Void before Creation, He has plans for us long before our moment of conception in our mother’s womb. Since one of the greatest mysteries of the universe is the miracle of new human life itself, it is no wonder that the details of our lives are hidden away in a metaphysical dimension that only God Himself holds the key to. Rather than assuming God keeps secrets from us out of malice, however, we should realize that the greatest artists of any sort do their best work in solitude, and the Master Artist of all Creation is no different. Although it is easy for us to conclude that God is withholding details from us about our lives because He doesn’t want us to know, we should look at His strategy through the lens of His love instead, knowing that He is guarding His artistic process because He’s busy doing His best work for us.

Reason #4: We care about the reviews we receive from a critical audience.

It’s all too easy for us to compare scripts with other people around us, and think that our Director has unfairly given them a better part than us. We can fall into the trap of jealousy, bitterness, covetousness, and resentment towards other people, even if they haven’t done anything wrong to purposely make us envy their personal circumstances. Although we put this unfair pressure on ourselves on a regular basis all on our own, it also can result from pressure we feel from the outside world to “get our act together,” or to “look the part.” It is our responsibility to know that we are only obligated to answer to God Himself, and we are not placed in this production to please people who might happen to be onlookers. Our earthly audience should not be our top priority. We have a duty to make sure we carry out our roles to the best of our ability in order to fulfill the divine Director’s vision for ultimate good. It will be easier for us to stick to our assigned scripts and roles when we remember that His final review is the only one that truly matters.

Here are some Director’s notes that show He understands how difficult it is for His cast to work under pressure:

Psalm 103:14 – “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

1 Corinthians 10:3 – ““There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Philippians 1:6 – “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

Hebrews 4:15 – “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 12:2 – “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 13:5 – “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

James 1:2-4 – “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Revelation 22:13 – “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

Instead of having us abandon the project completely, our Director is willing to let us “take five.”

Unfortunately, we don’t get a choice in the scripts that life hands to us; however, we do have a say in how we choose to play our parts. Thankfully, our Director is patient enough to give us all the time we need to process our roles and understand the direction He wants us to take with our individual performance. Our script was written by His loving hand, even if the details of the setting and plot don’t seem that way. We all have specific parts of our script that we wish with all our hearts could be “redacted,” whether those details were already written into our script or added by our own choices. We don’t get to pick and choose our circumstances, but we can control the way we respond to them. Every day that God allows us to live is another chance to shoot another scene, and because of the current, fallen condition of our world, some scenes might require several takes. Because our divine Director is understanding and compassionate, He may allow us to “take five” in between those “takes,” whether those translate into five weeks, months, or years. God is willing to work with us if we are willing to work with Him. The only option that is completely off the table is throwing away the script, because we do not possess that authority. No matter how many difficult plot twists occur that were unscripted in our heads, we have to accept the unacceptable whether we understand it or not. Our scripts may not make a bit of sense to us, and we do not have to like them, but we are expected to cooperate with our Director out of love, faithfulness, and obedience. If we make a conscious effort to follow the vision of the divine Director’s cut, He will bring our story to an expected end.

– Gloria D. Hopkins