But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land.” Numbers 21:3
Ten years ago, I was in the Emergency Room, where I’d worked for the first 12 years of my career. I’d built a reasonably good reputation, but my story was about to change dramatically as my secret life of addiction was dragged into the light. Suddenly everyone became aware of a dark and very different story about me. That story threatened to swallow my life, erasing anything good I’d ever done. Thankfully, my story wasn’t over. In turning from my way to follow God’s, he rewrote my story. Now, 10 years later, people still remember my addiction, but they also know the story of my recovery. I’ve been able to put my marriage and my career back together and I can now use my story to help others who share my life struggles. Daily, I thank God for the chapters of my life in which I’ve followed him and I’m profoundly grateful for his version of my story.
In today’s passage, the Israelites turned their story in a new direction as well. For forty years, they’d wandered in the desert, a consequence of their unfaithfulness to God. Several times, God chastised his people, most recently sending poisonous snakes to discipline them. In that discipline, they turned to God, following him. In doing so, they aligned themselves with his will. So, when they passed through the lands of the Amorites and the land of Bashan, and those armies attacked the Israelites, the Israelites were victorious. In following themselves, the Israelites wrote a story of self-destruction. In following God, he rewrote their story into one of triumph.
Maybe God doesn’t rewrite the old story. The past can’t be changed. He is, however, able to send our story in a completely new direction. If we’re sick of where our lives have been, we don’t have to continue living in that story. If we’re willing to surrender our right to write, we can turn to God, allowing him to write for us. Not everyone will have as dramatic of a story as my addiction, but we all have things in our past that we’d rather not repeat. If we’re sick of where our story has taken us, we can turn it over to God, allowing him to direct it. Daily, as we abandon our way to follow his, he will rewrite a blessed new story. God is, after all, a far better author than any of us will ever be.