Insurmountable odds

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, our daughter loved the C.S. Lewis novel and movie, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We decided to continue the series and have now been reading Prince Caspian. Last night, we were watching the Prince Caspian movie made by Disney. I’d highly recommend this series as it is is highly imaginative but yet very realistic and true to the story of God and his desire to bring his justice and righteousness to this world. 

So as I was watching this movie, I found myself pondering. To set the stage, the Narnians are in battle with the Telmarines. The Narnians are the good guys, the Telmarines are the bad guys. Throughout the movie, the youngest girl named Lucy wants to go find Aslan (a lion), the true king of the world, in order to have him help them in the fight. The older siblings put her off and think that if Aslan knows what is happening and if he was going to help, he would have already. As the plot thickens, the older siblings eventually come around and send Lucy to go find Aslan. Now, in case you want to watch the movie first; stop here. Watch it, and then continue reading. I tried to figure out a way to only give some of the story but I found that it lacked grasping the full picture. So there may be a few spoilers in here! If you have seen it already, know the story, or don’t mind a few spoilers; keep reading!

Imagine a huge battle. Good guys outnumbered 100 to 1. Weaponry, logistics, everything, is in the advantage of the enemy. Now, I know how Aslan is supposed to imitate Jesus/God/the Trinity in this film. However, I found myself thinking of him in human terms. I put God in the box. My box. I thought, “OK, if they find Aslan and bring him to this battle; what is 1 lion going to do? Even the fiercest lion wouldn’t be able to stand a chance against hundreds of thousands of soldiers outfitted with weapons too numerous to count. 

I even knew better. I knew that Aslan represented more. I know that he is not confined to what we can think of. He does not see our hardships, pain and struggles and only work with the solutions that we think of. But how often do I do this in my life? “Here is my problem Lord, and I would like you to come fix it now and by the way- I have laid out exactly how I think you should fix it.” 

If you have found yourself in this spot (like I have), I would like to challenge us to retrain our thought process. Don’t let your solution be the only option. 

As the movie progresses, Lucy does find Aslan. She asks him why he didn’t come earlier as he did the time before.  He replied “Things never happen the same way twice my dear one”. I think the lesson in this is that God is not predictable. We think we are being smart if we apply the same lessons we learned from another experience to a completely different scenario. Perhaps sometimes this isn’t so bad. We can and are supposed to learn from our experiences.  
But do we think that God only knows 1 way to solve our problems? Do we wrongly anticipate the way we think God will respond to our needs? And what if he doesn’t respond at all? Do we feel abandoned? Do we base our beliefs in him on our feelings? 

Prior to Aslan being found by Lucy, she had a dream. She had a dream that Aslan was calling to her in the woods. After she does find him, Aslan tells her “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you”. How we easily forget that more than our desire for help and answers, God calls to us. He longs to be near us, to fill us with what we truly need. When I am in great need and cry out to him, I can’t imagine him wanting me even more than that. He calls us FIRST. Are we listening? Do we respond?

I am going to end with a portion of how the battle ended. Aslan returned to the battle with Lucy and the enemy army was on one end of a large bridge. Aslan and Lucy were on the other end. As the army approached and yelled “charge!”, Aslan AND Lucy stood calm and confident. Now, Aslan knows exactly who he is and how he was going to solve this issue. Lucy didn’t know how Aslan would act- BUT she knew he would. She could stand in confidence knowing that although a fierce army is only moments away from her demise, she knew it wouldn’t happen. She trusted that Aslan had the power and the wisdom to do what needed to be done, in the way it needed to be done. That was enough for her. Knowing WHO Aslan was, made her into WHO she was. Her confidence came from knowing and loving Aslan. Oh, can we do the same friends? 

After the general yelled “charge!”, Aslan waited until the perfect moment and then let out a victorious “ROAR!”. All the men and animals stopped. They were silenced. Until the river started to flow faster. The river began raging and even took the form of a “being” with a face and arms that engulfed the bridge and all of the army. He also summoned the trees to fight. Which the 10 to 1 army reversed to 10 to a million as they fought in the woods. How foolish of me to think that the creator and ruler of the world wouldn’t be able to handle insurmountable odds. 

So I will leave you with this challenge. When your battle seems too big, call on God... and let him do the rest. He doesn’t need your options, he only wants your heart.  

It's good to be back friends. 
​