Psychologist Jonathan Haidt conducted a thought-provoking hypothetical experiment: participants received a person’s life summary and were asked to envision it as their unborn daughter’s inevitable journey. Armed with an eraser, participants had five minutes to remove undesirable pieces from her story. What would you erase first?
The instinctive response is to eliminate disabilities, accidents, sickness, and failed relationships—the hardships we wouldn’t wish upon our children. However, consider this: What if removing difficulties obstructs her from discovering God’s purpose or erases the pain that sets the stage for a ministry impacting others?
“Hold the pen” is a literary concept signifying ownership of the narrative. Realizing that God authors our story doesn’t always make it easy to accept painful events. Our stories may have broken and painful chapters, but there’s always redemptive value when God writes them.
Think about Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. Do you think he wished he could edit that part out during his long years of isolation? Or the Samaritan woman at the well—she probably wished her shameful past could be erased from her story. And David, after his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband—I’m sure he wished he could hit the delete button on that chapter.
However, if those painful events were edited out, we’d miss the amazing redemption stories. Like Joseph saving his family and the nation of Israel, the Samaritan woman meeting the Messiah and evangelizing her whole town, and God establishing His kingdom through David’s line, starting with the son born from his eventual marriage to Bathsheba.
Just like these Bible characters’ stories tell a greater narrative, the difficult parts of our own stories hint at an ending only God can write. Rather than recoiling from the challenging aspects, surrender them to the One who accepted difficult paths in His own story to bring redemption to ours.
