You have kept count of my [wanderings];
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me? (Psalm 56:8–11)
Picture this scene from The Lord of the Rings: Frodo and Sam are on the final stage of their quest. Dead and dying lands sprawl across the horizon in every direction, interrupted only by a black wall of mountains and one lone peak, higher than the rest, crowned in flame. Through bone-dry lips, Frodo whispers words Sam can barely understand: “I can’t manage it.” He collapses in the dirt. Mordor has all but broken his will; the Dark Lord’s wars have left them footsore and starving. Enemies hound their steps, and death circles overhead. Mount Doom looms mere miles away, but even if they can reach it — what then? Their hope has dried and cracked just like the waterless waste around them.
Now, we know how the tale ends. Sam proves his mettle and cements his place in the hall of heroes. But imagine a twist. Imagine that, in this moment of darkest despair, the clouds split, and a voice — none other than J.R.R. Tolkien’s — booms from the stars. “Frodo, fear not. I know the plans I have for you. I am working even Mordor for your good. I have kept track of your long wanderings. I have counted your tears. I have written your happy ending. All this is in my book. Trust me and play your part.”
What difference would the voice of the author have made in that moment? If you were in Frodo’s place, wouldn’t the intentions of Tolkien put steel in your spine? Surely the guarantee of the almighty author would scatter your fears like so many Ringwraiths before the White Wizard — right?
Believe it or not, our situation is not far removed from this thought experiment. We have enemies within and without. We go through desert and darkness. We look for the return of the King. And we have an Almighty Author who speaks to us.
Characters in His Story
The Bible furnishes our imaginations with images that help us grasp God’s sovereignty. He is the Gardener; we are his fruit trees. He is the Vinedresser; we are his vines. He is the Potter; we are his pots. He is the Shepherd; we are his sheep. And he is the Author; we are his characters.
In Psalm 56, David the poet realigns our imaginations to this vision of God by offering us two dramatic insights to still our fears.
Your Chapter in His Book
First, God has written your story. There is no twist in the tale, no inciting incident, no surprise enemy that catches him off guard. Your story, start to finish, is his invention.
David takes immense comfort from this thought in Psalm 56. He has fled from Israel to Gath, of all places — a city David recently stripped of its hometown hero, Goliath. His enemies hunt him around the clock (verses 1–2). They lurk in wait for him (verse 6). We might say David finds himself in the middle of Mordor.
Yet he knows God has authored every event. The enemies are there by design, written long ago in God’s book (verse 8). They serve the story. As David writes elsewhere, God penned every single day and detail of his life before he was even a gleam in Jesse’s eye (Psalm 139:16). All the seeming chaos has a plan and purpose.
Saint, let this truth shape the way you view your life. Let it retune your imagination to be in harmony with reality, to read your story as God intended. You are his character; he is your Author. He has traced out all your wanderings, gathered all your tears, plotted all your scenes. He has a chapter in his cosmic book with your name on it, and he cast you perfectly for your part in the drama.
Happy Ending Guaranteed
But God as Author is not yet good news. We must pair it with a second insight from Psalm 56: “God is for me” (verse 9). And as Paul would remind us, if the Almighty Author is on your side, no force or foe within the story can succeed against you (Romans 8:38–39). Final failure is impossible. After all, he plots all things for your good and his glory. He will defeat all the enemies; you will bask “in the light of life” (Psalm 56:13).
In other words, God is unwaveringly committed to the happy ending. This Author loves eucatastrophe, the sudden good turn in a tale that takes our breath away, the startling triumph of grace, right when things seemed their worst. On this point, God is not concerned with originality; for his saints, every story ends in joy (Jude 24).
If you, like David, trust in God, if you embrace Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 KJV), your happy ending is guaranteed. No matter what circumstances you face, no matter how dire your suffering, no matter if you find yourself sprawled in the dust of Mordor, your final joy cannot be overwritten. No power of hell, no scheme of man can threaten it. Know this: God is utterly for you. He is on your side because you are in his Son. The path may be rocky and riddled with pitfalls, orcs may wait in the wings, but the ending will take your breath away.
Fearful to Fearless
How often, like Frodo, does our hope wither because we fail to see God as the sovereign Storyteller? How often do we live as timid and terrified characters because we neglect the words of our Author?
When we learn to read our stories in light of God’s author-ity, we become better characters. We become fearless. Twice, David concludes his reflections on God’s sovereign storytelling by declaring, “I am not afraid” (Psalm 56:4, 11 NET). He has not yet reached the denouement; he is still miles from Mount Doom; his enemies are still within a stone’s throw. Yet he has become a fearless character in the story because he knows who holds the pen.
God is the sovereign Storyteller, the playwright of this cosmic epic. Only he sees every flourish and stroke, knows every scene and line. Only he knows the full glory of the tale he is telling. Yet he has spoken from beyond the stars to assure us of the happy ending. Even in your darkest moment — especially there — he says to you, “All this is written in my book. Trust me and play your part well.”
Desiring God