The sixth in a series on restoring the drama to the study of the Word of God.I’m trying to examine the role of storytelling in the study and teaching of Scripture. By storytelling I don’t mean anecdotes from “real life.” I mean embracing the living storyline of Scripture. Even the purely teaching texts, such as the epistles, have as their background the narrative of the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the book of Acts. And a narrative has a plot which incorporates certain features. That's the way God designed it. These devotionals have noticed the characters, the questions, the knowledge gaps, and the crises which drive a listener forward into the story.
Consider
with me, now, that any plot is like a train traveling on a track of
two rails. This is true
The first rail of the track is a series of acts. Each act is
made up of a sequence of three movements.
- The set up.
- The complication (crisis)
- The climax.
For
example, when David arrived at the Valley of Elah where Goliath taunted
the army of Israel, the inspired writer already prepared us with the set up. In
this case the set-up and the complication occur together; but there is more
complication to be added. In this act no one knows what is going to happen next. The first-time listener may
have some suspicions, but he would not know, and additional complications may tear down some of those suspicions. Additional complications include the ridicule of David’s brothers, the hesitancy of the King, the rejection of bona fide weapons, and the scorn of the giant. These make for a very bad
situation. Then comes the climax which creates a new act.
- The new setup? David’s popularity and the listener’s knowledge that he has been anointed to be the future king.
- The new complications: public praise, Saul’s jealousy and the intrigue of David's friendship with the heir apparent.
PREVIOUS: What Makes a Crisis a Crisis?
NEXT: The Second Rail
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