Weaving Stories
Look at the webs I ran into recently!
They were lining the road for miles, covered in morning dew and sparkling in the sun.
I guess the spiders who built them are going to be hungry for a while. (side note: who knew there were so many spiders lurking on the roadside? Or bugs to feed them!) As I passed web after web, they struck me as a helpful spiritual analogy for how the Word of God and the Holy Spirit expose the faulty mental stories we spin based on half-truths we believe.
Sticky Stories
From the beginning, the enemy has been tossing out half-truths and then leaving us to weave our own destructive stories with them. It’s often more effective than blatant lies. Take Eve as an example. First, Satan contradicted God with a lie, “You won’t die!” Then followed up with a half truth. He told her God knew if she ate the fruit of the forbidden tree her eyes would be open like God’s, allowing her to know good and evil. He left all the implications up to her imagination. From there her mind began weaving a false story of God’s character and of the fruit He was withholding from her. The Bible doesn’t tell the plot of her erroneous mental story, but it does tell us where it led her thinking. She concluded that the fruit was delightful, desirable, and a source of wisdom. (see Genesis 3)
I have a feeling that if the enemy had explicitly attacked God’s character, she would have been ready to stand up to him. It was the embedded implication that led her mind to wander toward the fruit and away from her loving Creator. Maybe He is not as good as I thought. Maybe He is not the only source of wisdom. Maybe He can’t be fully trusted.
She took the fruit, and her eyes were tragically and irrevocably opened to understand good and evil. The knowledge robbed her of innocence and brought debilitating shame and death on her and on all future generations. She was caught in a web of her own making.
The same cycle has been on repeat ever since. Everywhere we look we find sneaky half-truths looking for purchase in our minds. Sometimes they are whispered straight from the enemy. Other times they are implicit in our culture or they escape from the mouths of people around us. We even find them embedded in our own deceitful hearts. They provide a launching point for the human mind to spin a sticky story.
Insidious Implications
The foundation for our mental stories may often include a combination of truth and lies. The true parts are likely a fact based on a circumstance. The lies are almost always a hypothetical response to the truth. As with Eve, it is not the facts themselves that are the problem. Rather, it is what our hypothetical stories imply about God. Eve’s story implied that God was not as good or as trustworthy as she had originally thought. Here’s some examples from one week of my own sticky mental stories. A genetic mutation in my family history (true) has me imagining my children growing up without me (hypothetical). One of my sons ends up in the principal’s office twice in one week (true) and I’m picturing visiting him as an incarcerated adult (hypothetical). I communicate a thought carelessly via text (true) and I wonder if I’ve done irrevocable damage to an important friendship (hypothetical).
What do these stories imply about God? That He may be mistaken in His timing, or careless in the details of my life. That the future of my kids depends on me. That He isn’t actively working in my son’s life. That His power may not be sufficient in the lives of my friends and family. That He may not work all things for good in these particular circumstances. That He may be unable or unwilling to extend His healing power of reconciliation toward me and my friend. Or maybe He’s just tired of bailing me out.
When these implications about God take written form, it’s easier to see their absurdity. But seeing isn’t enough to free our hearts from their hold. It takes the Spirit’s sword (the Word of God) to cut us loose. (see Eph 6:17) We can’t always prevent worst-case scenarios from happening. But we can line them up next to the promises of God, hold them up to the light of His character, and tell ourselves a truer and better story.
How to Replace Lies with Truth
Just like the morning light and dew exposed the spider webs along the trail, God’s word and Spirit expose sticky stories we’ve spun in our minds. They have the power to keep us from getting caught and freeing us when we do. Together, they direct our steps onto the safe path of true thoughts. We do not need to tiptoe down the path, paranoid of getting caught. Instead, we open the Word of God and let it declare to us who God is and who we are. As we do, it lights the way. And we invite the Holy Spirit to interact with us. He will faithfully help us to remember all that Jesus has taught us, reveal the Father, and help us recognize lies so we can combat them with truth. (See Ps 119:105, Jn 14:26)
For example, when I hold up my family health history to Psalm 139, my mental story loses its sting. God knit my body together, He made it just the way He wanted it to be. All my days are written in His book. He will not take me home a day early or a day late. When I think about my son in the context of Romans 4, I do not fear for his future. I remember that our God is the Rescuer. He is the one who makes dead hearts alive and calls into existence new things that don’t yet exist. (See Rom 4:17) I can trust Him with this little boy. He can reach him in ways I can't and loves him more than I ever could. When I bring my damaged friendship to the Lord Jesus, I find Him hanging on the cross, declaring “it is finished!” I see His heart for reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5. I know He has forgiven me fully and I am free. From this place of freedom, I can humbly work toward reconciliation with my friend.
God’s True Story
Back in the garden, Eve discovered that acting upon a false story can lead to devastating consequences. Yet her story wasn’t over. From before the dawn of creation, God had in mind a bigger, truer story. A story of redemption, sacrifice, and reconciliation. A story of mercy, grace, and victory. He stepped in with a plan to weave her story into His. He promised to send a child who would one day crush the lying serpent. The Serpent-Crusher would restore all things, bringing healing and reconciliation to humanity and all of creation. Jesus won the victory. Now we await His return, looking forward to the day when He ushers us into glory. We’ll join members from every nation in a world free from sickness, suffering, and sin. (See Rev 7:9-17, Rev 21)
We do not need to be slaves to the hypothetical. While we wait for the God of peace to crush satan under our feet, we will keep running with joy along the path God has set out for us. His presence and His word expose the lies and lead us into truth. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. (see Rom 16:20, 1 Jn 4:4 )
In the meantime we are still susceptible to lies, still tempted to weave false stories of our own. Below, I have compiled a few power-packed verses we can use to interrupt our own false narratives and align our mental stories with His. May His truth sink deep into our souls and equip us to fix our eyes on Him!
2 Cor 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Jn 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
1 Peter 3:3-4 (CSB) Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes, but rather what is inside the heart — the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
note: Scripture is brimming over with anchoring words we can build true stories on. I had a hard time narrowing it down to just four! Perhaps one of your favorites is not on this list. Would you mind dropping it in the comments below? Let’s encourage one another!
