There is a picture on the wall of a dragon smiling and patting his full belly. Around him lie pieces of crumpled armor, a bent shield, a broken spear. Underneath are the words, “Some Days the Dragon Wins.” Yes, it’s dark humor, but some days I can wholly relate. Some days, my troubles overpower my successes. Some days, God doesn’t answer, and I think He’s forgotten me.
What do I do when the suspense gets too terrible in a book? I read the back of the book, of course.
What does the back pages of the Bible say? Revelation 22 describes Heaven, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle… was the tree of life… They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”
Paul said in Hebrews 12:2 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” In a good story, there is a flawed protagonist who has problems that get worse and worse until there is seemingly no way out. Finally, lessons are learned, and there is a happy ending.
God writes our lives, adding problems and suspense. We can’t see any way that we will survive our distress. We think God has forgotten us.
But God is in control. He is the author. We can’t see our personal future. We can’t read the back of the book of our lives, but we can read the ultimate back of the book and know that whatever happens here, Heaven is the end. Don’t ever forget that.
Sometimes when prayers are not answered, it is easy to lose our faith.
In Daniel 3:17-18 the three Hebrew children had the choice of worshiping the king or being thrown into the fiery furnace. They answered, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
They said, “But if not.” They didn’t know if God would deliver or not, but they still stood with God.
How many martyrs are there in history that did not get delivered? They didn’t care if the dragon won the battle for their lives. They knew God was writing their story, and they trusted Him with how He chose to write the end of their books, even if they lost their lives.
Sometimes in the short-term, the dragon wins. But in the long run, God always wins. If you belong to Him, you win.
You win. It’s written right there in the back of the Book. The Book you can trust with your life. With your eternity.
