Our Stories, God's Stories: Re-Conceptualizing the Stories We Live by Through a Close Reading of the Psalms of David

Abstract

People love stories. Not only that, a large body of psychological research suggests that people actually live by the stories they tell themselves. Stories are the way people make sense of a confusing world. The problem is, not all stories are true. Even among Christians, the reality of living as a sinner/saint means that one of the crosses a Christian bears is the constant struggle to live by God’s stories rather than their own. Through a close reading of two Davidic psalms within the conceptual framework of narrative paradigm theory, narrative identity theory, and sensemaking theory, this study reveals how God uses suffering and Scripture to undermine the lies we tell ourselves and lead us to a more mature understanding of his truth.