Happily ever after

My family has a tradition of setting aside Friday evening as family night. We research the latest BBC adaptions of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and all our other favorite authors, and then count the days till we get to watch the movie. When the day finally comes, we leave 21st century America and travel to old England. We become so engrossed in the movie that someone listening to our conversations would think that Lizzie Bennet, Horatio Hornblower, Molly Gibson, and Arthur Clennam were our best friends.

This last Friday, after finishing Our Mutual Friend, I was thinking about how nice happy endings are. All the good people end up happily married, and all the bad guys end up either dead or unhappy bachelors (since of course in English drama the married state represents ultimate bliss). With Dickens, it feels a lot more complex, but it generally boils down to that=) Something in us longs for a happy ending. When a bad guy gets what’s good and a good guy gets what’s bad, our sense of justice starts yelling at the author. We want a good ending. God made us that way. He, the Author of life, promises us that He has already written a happy ending for us.

Revelation 21:4-5--And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

In Bible Bee the past few weeks, we’ve been studying about inheritance, salvation, and suffering. In a good story, the good people end with some sort of inheritance or treasure that usually comes about through a redemptive process. Normally, the redemptive process involves suffering. Why do we enjoy watching good characters suffer? Through the suffering, they grow up into stronger characters. They become deserving of the happy ending–the inheritance–that we sincerely hope will happen.

In real life, we don’t usually go through a challenging year and then find ourselves possessors of large fortunes. The inheritance that we’ve been promised isn’t an earthly inheritance; we will only find it in heaven. Oftentimes, we hear Romans 8:28 quoted to us when we’re struggling. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Why do good people suffer? What about the trial that never results in any good? God doesn’t promise us that He will make all things work together for good in our lifetime; He promises is that He will make all things work together for good in His plan. Sometimes the good doesn't come till after our lifetime; we see the good when we are in heaven. Maybe Dickens wrote a good chapter-long ending at the end of 600 pages, but God promises a good ending for all of eternity! Praise God for His promises!