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All of us wonder about the future. About what will happen to us: what we will see, do and accomplish. We have so many experiences ahead of us that sometimes the sheer amount can seem overwhelming. Thankfully, as Christians, we don’t have to worry about the future. We can trust in God’s plan, for God is not constrained by time, which is a purely mortal facet. God has all of time and space laid out before Him, and He has created it all. He has created our past, our present, and our future, because to Him what matters is not whether things will get better in the future or were worse in the past: He wants the finished product, the person that will be spending eternity with Him. Life is a story, not a series of TV episodes. God knows this, and by knowing God we can know this. God has written our stories, and as we grow more in Him, we read more of our stories. We can look back and see how something that happened in chapter 3 made us do something in chapter 7. Like characters in a book we lead our lives, never knowing the finished picture until the end. I’ve written the following as an allegorical story to show the basic outline of our lives.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a grand city. A tall majestic city of bustling streets and busy taverns. At the center of the city stood a huge, grim-looking castle, seemingly devoid of life. But the first character in this story did not live in a grand castle or even a warm tavern. He lived in the muddy streets. He was a pauper, you see, with no belongings save the torn and ragged cloth on his back. His relations were all far off in a distant city. He rarely heard from them. He had a few friends, people that had much better lives than he and seemed much more elegant to him. But he had a good heart. He lived each day to the good of those around him, though he knew something was missing from his life.

 

One day, as this pauper was stumbling down a muddy street, dodging carts and horses and rabble, something suddenly blocked his way. Without looking up he moved tiredly to go around, but the something still stood before him. Finally he caught a glimpse of something white and shining out of the corner of his eye, and looked up. Before him, on the biggest and most noble-looking horse he had ever seen, sat a man. Tall, elegant, perfect, handsome, and yet old and wise. A great glistening beard fell from his chin, and brilliant armor shone like liquid mercury about him. It was the King. The King of all the realms, who had originally built this city.

 

The pauper fell to his knees in the mud, ashamed and humiliated at his own pathetic appearance before the shining light of the King. He felt sure that the King must have simply been too kind to trample him. He couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the pauper. The pauper pressed himself closer to the ground as a sound told him that the King had gotten off his horse. The King reached down and took hold of the pauper, lifting him up from the mud. The pauper felt horrible that so noble a King would dirty his boots to help a pauper, and he said as much. The King smiled a wise loving smile and shook his head. “Man, you do not know your own heart. Will you give yourself to a task I assign you?” The pauper nodded. “But I do not know how I can be of any use to one such as you.” The King’s eyes sparkled. “I want you to serve me. I want you to become my knight.” With that the King snapped his fingers and two servants appeared, carrying a suit of shining armor. The servants helped clothe the pauper in the armor. They washed his face and hair, and soon the pauper looked more a prince than a pauper. “I want you to go out into the wilderness, Man. I want you to go and fight the dragon-monsters that plague my realm. And while you are gone, I want you to tell others of me, so that everyone will remember my Name.”

The pauper nodded in stunned and humble silence as the King got back on his horse. “When you feel the need, come to me, and I will help you.” With that the King rode away. The pauper felt only a moment’s hesitation before turning around towards the city gates. Somehow, impossibly, before him stood the king’s white horse. The pauper got on the horse and rode out of the gate into the wilderness.

 

Also in that city lived another person. A girl, who lived in the castle. In fact, she was the castle’s sole inhabitant. Ever since she could remember, that castle had been empty. Her parents had died, and her friends were so grim when they came to visit that they barely brought any more life to the dreary castle. She had forgotten the King that made this castle, and she felt the lowest of the low. She had no princess clothes to wear; instead she wore the garments of a maid.

 

A knock came suddenly at the door. The princess, hardly daring to believe someone would visit her, made her way slowly to the door. Finally she opened it, slowly, on creaking hinges, to find a brilliantly shining figure standing in the doorway. The light faded enough for her to make out a tall elegant man with a beard and glistening armor. She knew instinctively that this was the King, and bowed before Him in homage. She felt humiliated that the King had found the castle in such poor condition, and sad that she had not taken better care of it.

 

The King leaned over and gently pulled her up. “My daughter. I have missed you so. Why have you forgotten me?” The princess was unable to speak through her tears. “I’m sorry Father,” was all she could whisper. She looked down to see the King’s hands dirty and stained from touching her, which bought fresh tears to her eyes. The King smiled a loving, understanding smile at her and winked, and suddenly his hands were clean. He sighed and the princess was suddenly clean. Servants appeared out of nowhere to dress the princess in a beautiful gown of shimmering purple and pink and silver. The princess felt suitably humbled and thankful, and all she could say was “thank you.”

 

The King nodded and gestured to His servants. Within minutes the castle was full of dressings, of guests and courtiers, just the way it should be. The very presence of the King had changed the castle entirely, just as it had changed the princess. The King kissed the princess on the cheek and told her to go and meet her friends. As the princess mingled amongst the crowd, meeting new people and discovering just how lucky she was, the King stood before her. “I have to go for a bit now. Not for long. There is someone else that wants to meet you, although they may not know it yet. A very important visitor. Make them feel welcome when they come, my dear.” The princess smiled. “How could I do any less for a friend of my Father?” The princess kissed her Father’s hand, and the King left the castle.

 

Far away, out in the dirty wilderness of darkness beyond the King’s cities, the pauper was hard at work. For days now he had been fighting dragons, struggling against the wiles of his enemies, and telling all he had met about the King. Most of all, he told them that he was once a pauper, and that when the King found him he felt better than he had in as long as he could remember. The people seemed amazed at this. Some didn’t believe him. Some wished to find the King. All eventually left the pauper to continue with his work. After all, fighting dragons and defending innocent villages was no small task. The pauper fought many long, hard battles. However, the King had given the pauper a command. He could not set aside his duty, because the King had done so much for him. And even though he knew he could never repay the King, he wanted to try. So the pauper fought dragons. But he was running out of dragons to fight in that part of the realm.

 

Not only had he run out of dragons in this part of the wilderness, but also he felt alone. He knew the King gave him a job to do, but he had no one to share it with. He was tired and weary of fighting dragons, and wished someone were with him to help support his tired frame. Most of all, he wished someone was there to help restore his spirits, for fighting the dragons and constantly defending himself was exhausting. He wanted the king to give him strength, but to do that, he needed to go to Him. The pauper remembered what the king had said: “When you feel the need, come to me, and I will help you.”

With those words ringing in his ears, the pauper turned his charger around and rode out of the now-safe countryside. He made his way through woods and over hills, and finally arrived at his old city. The very sight of his old home brought tears to his eyes, and quietly and solemnly, he rode through the gates. No longer controlling his steed, the pauper let the horse carry him to the castle. The pauper at first did not recognize it for the sheer change that had come over it. No longer were its corridors dark and damp, but filled with light and laughter. One voice especially brought a thrill to the pauper’s heart: a voice that sounded as kind as the King.

The pauper bounded off his horse and up the steps. When he was almost there the princess opened the door, expecting this favored visitor of the King. The light of day streamed into the castle, illuminating a tall, rugged figure, handsome and wearing shining armor. She immediately recognized this as the important visitor the King had told her about. The pauper, for his part, saw the princess and stopped dead in his tracks. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He knew this must be the King’s daughter, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could never leave her.

 

The princess stepped up to the pauper. Without any words passing between them, the princess knew she loved the pauper, and the pauper her. “Hello, my prince. You look so tired. Please don’t cry.” For the prince had started crying. He cried because the princess had been led to believe he was a prince, when in fact he was a pauper. He knew that if the princess were ever to see him as he was without his armor, she could never love him. This in turn reminded him of the king. He lifted his head and knelt before the princess. “My princess, you mistake me for someone I am not. I am but a humble servant of the King. You cannot know my past, or my future. I am not who you think I am, and can never be worthy of your attention.”

 

The princess herself started to cry. She in turn knew that, should the pauper become aware of just how empty her life, her castle was before the King came, the pauper would leave her. While she didn’t want the pauper to leave, she loved him too much to lie to him. “No prince, it is I who am undeserving. You have no idea how empty I was, and how empty I might be if the King does not stay with me.”

 

At this both of them heard a sound at the door. They both looked to see the King, looking more noble and glorious than ever, standing in the doorway. He looked first to the pauper, and walked over to him. “Hello Man. This is my daughter. I know why you weep: you weep because you believe you are a pauper at heart. But I know you better.” The King smiled. “You believe I covered your pauper’s rags with shining armor. But you could not be more wrong. You see, I have know you your entire life, and always will. I know your life’s story, and I knew that you would come to this point. So I could not very well hide your rags. To do so would be to lie to the world. Instead I showed them who you really are. I did not hide your rags, I merely took them off. You had always worn this armor underneath. You had always been a prince in my eyes. It was up to you to meet me, and to accept this reality. And I’m very glad that you did. I know someone else will be very glad that you did. Which brings me to my next point.”

 

The prince let his chin drop against his chest, tears falling from his eyes as he wept in grateful happiness. The King turned to the princess, who stood looking confused. “My daughter, never again will you be alone in this house. Never again will you bear the burden of being alone. That has passed away now, so do not worry about whether you are worthy for the prince. I brought him to you, didn’t I? You think your house was empty before I came. In reality, it was too full. So full that there was no room for me. Full of the worries and cares laying upon your heart. When you opened that door you let me take care of and clean out those worries. You let me fill your life with my love. And now it will be more full than ever, because I have brought my prince to your door.” The princess was weeping as well now. The King stood back and watched the two young people gradually come to accept what He had known all along: that He knew their inner character, and he loved them for it.

 

The King finally turned to the prince. “Take care of my daughter. You may not know what lies in store in the future, but I want you to keep trusting me. You trusted me with taking care of your past, now trust me with taking care of your future. Princess, love and cherish this prince, for he is a good servant of mine. Trust that all will work out happily in the end, and it will. I must leave you both now for a time. I do not tell you when I will be back. Only do what I have asked, remember me and love me, and when I return I will be well pleased.”

 

With that the King left the castle. Like the prince or princess in the story, our lives were empty and worthless when we met Christ the King. He took away our grimy areas and covered them with His love. He knows our past, present, and future. He gives us friends and duties and responsibilities. He gives us our soul mates. And all He asks in return is that we keep his commandments: we take care of what He has given us. That we remember Him, and that we love Him. The choice remains to us as to whether we will wait for the King to come back, or forget Him. Either way, he will never stop loving us, because he knows the prince or princess inside each of us.

 

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Once And Future For The King