The STORY of God

For me, the benefit of understanding scripture and, thus, God through a story seems very natural. In fact, I find it interesting that God could have chosen to reveal Himself to man in many ways but chose to do so through a “verbal” expression or as the “Word.” This in itself appears to support the use of a grand story and the various elements of said story to assist us in knowing and understanding this incomprehensible being we call God. 
Man seems to have been expressly made to communicate and relate through stories. I know most of my dearest memories of childhood and parenthood are directly tied to hearing and telling stories. Even modern day versions of the storytelling experience, like television and movies, seem oddly similar to ancient versions shared around a familial campfire as the patriarch seeks to link his family to their roots or their God. 
Stories have a way of linking us emotionally to the subject of the story in ways that other methods often lack. When our emotions trigger during these stories they deepen the impact and lengthen the memory retention of the story’s subject and associated sensory experiences. Telling the same story again elicits similar emotional responses, even years later. 
But, the question at hand is how might this grand story assist us in doing or understanding Biblical Theology? If hearing and telling stories, along with the subsequent ways in which they deeply impact us, is really a natural part of our human design and God’s expression of Himself was intentionally “verbal” then a grand story is also likely intentional and would naturally lead us towards deeper understanding and more intimate fellowship.
In fact, I believe intimate relationship with God is one of the themes that can be easily missed if you fail to consider this grand narrative. Stories draw us into relationship with the stories’ characters. Over and over again the meta narrative describes God coming and being with/among the people in the story. He speaks to them, blesses them, wrestles with them, walks with them, and makes covenants with them. But only a few of them seem to understand that He wants to know them intimately. To have relationship with them. To love them as a father loves his children. 
That same pattern seems to continue today. While many claim to “believe” in God, most do not know Him intimately. They seek to placate Him by being moral or religious. Yet, He seeks to draw us near the campfire to hear a voice recounting tales of faithful friends who know His gentle touch, His disciplining gaze, the smell of righteous prayers or the sound of His Spirit blowing through our worship. He still seeks to draw us into an intimate love relationship and we only want to play religion.