The God of the Cinderella Story

She was a mere servant, bound to fulfill the selfish desires of those who were supposed to treat her like family. Day after day she served faithfully without protest. Rather than complaining, within her heart was a song of hope that someday her life would radically be changed. When her life’s situation seemed to be at its worst, that’s when an unexpected opportunity came and she captured the attention of the prince of her country. She showed up at a ball (a party) that was designed for the prince to choose his bride. Beyond her physical beauty was the beauty of holiness and exemplary character. The crowd watched and complained as the prince chose her alone to dance with. With disdain and jealousy they asked, “Where did she come from? We have never seen her before.” She eventually married the prince and would become a queen. Those who mocked her and abused her were punished.



Lord, let those who read this hear with spiritual ears the symbolism of this story because this is your story and it is our story. You are the God of the Cinderella Story.

This was the fable that has inspired the phrase, “a Cinderella Story,” meaning that someone came out of obscurity and immense difficulty to achieve something great. But long before this story were the stories of the Bible that actually reveal the God of the Cinderella Story. In fact, Scripture teaches that this is God’s modus operandi.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:26-29).

This passage tells us that God deliberately chose those who were weak, those who were abused, despised, and rejected by those more powerful. He chose those who, in comparison to the well educated and wise of this world, seem foolish. God did it then and continues to do it to shame those who think they are wise and important so no one can EVER boast in God’s presence.

The Bible is replete with stories of the insignificant accomplishing great things. The old having children; a Hebrew slave becoming a ruler of the greatest nation of that time; a nation of wanderers displacing ten nations with giants, walled cities, and huge populations; a child defeating the largest giant of all recorded time; the timid that became brave and the weak that became victors like Gideon’s army of 300 that defeated an army of thousands; or like Jehoshaphat who defeated three armies that joined to destroy Judah a single tribe left in Israel. Or Hezekiah who trusted in the Lord in spite of the king of Assyria destroying every other nation it had attacked. The Lord caused the armies of Sennacherib of Assyria to be defeated by an angel. Time limits me of speaking of Daniel, Jeremiah, and the countless others.

Were ANY of these success stories a result of their own ability to become victorious over their situation? No, in fact in most cases, what they accomplished was impossible and unattainable through natural means. That is what I believe God is trying to get us to understand and why the Apostle Paul prayed that the eyes of our understanding might be opened that we would know what is the exceeding greatness of His power that works in those who believe (Eph. 1:19).

Sometimes we get it in our heads that only the strong survive. Or that only the educated are wise or that success is measured by how many possessions someone has. Sadly, this belief is found even in the church where it is believed that being financially endued is equated with godliness, or where a relationship with God is measured by how many degrees one has rather than a lifestyle that reflects godly behavior.

I think many of us buy into a naturalistic concept of the identity of God because we really fail to seek Him passionately enough to see His hand working in our lives. We substitute pragmatism for a legitimate move or revelation of God. We replace Spiritual gifts and God’s anointing with natural talents. We lean on our own understanding rather than believing for the miraculous and as a result we limit Him. To many of us, Christianity is a mere crutch that we lean on only when we need to. True Christianity on the contrary is a stretcher in which we lay our lives down, cease to do our own will, and rely solely upon the promises of God for strength and deliverance. God promises, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness," and that when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:9…10).

Do we really believe that? Do we really seek and rely on God’s strength, His anointing, His wisdom, and His way over what we can accomplish on our own? How many of us seek to be weak, rejoice in our weaknesses, believing that in them is the greatest opportunity for God to show His power and control over all the situations of our lives?

How many of us “lean on our own understanding” instead of acknowledging Him (Prov 3:5-6)? We struggle so often to be in control of the situations of our lives and to live our lives in whatever way we think is right because we believe, “It is my life and my right to do what I want.” When problems come into our lives, we often question God’s faithfulness and love for us. But, God doesn’t want the difficulties, trials or temptations of life to cause us to fall under the weight of them; He wants us to come to Him to receive the way of escape (1 Cor 10:13). His plan is to use us as instruments of righteousness to accomplish something great, something unique, or something that reveals His presence (Mt 5:16).

In all the Cinderella Stories of the Bible, each one of them learned that the way to receive victory over whatever situation they faced was to go to God, explain the circumstance, confess their own weakness and inability to handle the situation, do whatever He said (even if it made no logical sense) and then put their trust in God to deliver them. I am persuaded that Jesus is the same today as yesterday and He still wants to do great things in our lives that testify of His presence. The Bible declares that God desires to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think (Eph. 3:20).

Perhaps we need to be reminded that the greatest Cinderella Story in the Bible concerned a boy born to a poor family and was raised in a small town. He had to work hard to make a living. The Bible describes him as plain without the sort of attractiveness that would draw people to him. But he loved people and sought to do good for them with God’s help. When he was in his thirties, he dedicated his life to full time ministry. Out of nowhere he began to do the miraculous, healed the sick, and taught with great authority. Surprisingly, those around him began to question his teaching and claims. “How did he get these things?” They all asked and became offended with him (Mt.13:56-57). Out of jealousy they had him killed, but when a happy ending seemed impossible, he was miraculously raised from the dead and was exalted to the Father’s own right hand far above every ruler and all creation. Of course this is the story of Jesus Christ the greatest of all Cinderella stories.

If we are His, we will share in His ministry of weakness so that the power of God may manifest itself in us. He must increase and we must decrease (Jn 3:30, Zech 4:6).