lessons from Narnia – part 1

As “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” movie began to play, I heard the Holy Spirit instruct me to look for the truths in it. He said there would be many, but there were certain key ones of which I should take note.

Notes:
1. For those who have read the book but have not yet seen the movie, it does not follow the book exactly. So events referenced here may be slightly different than the events in the book.
2. If you haven’t seen the movie yet but intend to see it, you may want to wait until afterwards to read this.

Background
To set the stage for those unfamiliar with C. S. Lewis’ chronicles, Peter, Susan, Edmund & Lucy are siblings who live in 20th century London. In the first book of the series, “The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe,” the four youngsters “fall into” ancient Narnia through an old wardrobe in which they were playing. There they quickly learn to be warriors as they encounter the evils of the white witch and finally meet the great leader, Aslan. As the story unfolds, Aslan offers his life sacrificially to spare the life of Edmund, who had fallen prey to the evil deception of the witch. As with the true Lion of the Tribe of Judah, death was defeated and Aslan returned to life, empowered to overthrow the witch, who is bound and remains powerless for over a millennium.

Many years pass in Narnia, where peace reigns under the oversight of High King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, Queen Lucy and, of course, Aslan. One day while riding in the woods, the four find themselves back in a strangely familiar spot. They are soon tumbling back through the wardrobe and back into 20th century London – on the same day they left! While they had spent many years in ancient Narnia where they had grown to adulthood and ruled the entire land as its kings & queens, only a few hours had passed in modern earth time. They had returned to London and their childhood.

As time passes, the four continue to long for the adventures of Narnia and their beloved Aslan. After a couple of years, they are about to the point of reconciling themselves to the fact that their life is to remain in London as they are when they suddenly find themselves passing back through a different portal into Narnia. In the couple of years that have passed in earth time, they come to realize that it has been over 1300 years in Narnia and it is not at all the way they left it. They learn that both their legacy and even Aslan are so long forgotten that they are considered myths by most. In the meantime, the land was invaded by Telamarines who had landed on its shores and had been taken over by their evil rulers. Due to the untimely death of his father, Prince Caspian is to be the heir to the Telamarine throne, when he is of an age to assume it. In the meantime, the land is ruled by his very evil uncle, Miraz. As the movie begins, Miraz’ wife bares him a son. With this news, Miraz attempts to kill Prince Caspian, so that he and his son will become the heir of the throne. Thanks to his tutor, the prince escapes, but must run to the woods to save his life.

1) Impatience is costly.
As “the kings and queens of old” (Peter, Susan, Edmund & Lucy) who have been summonsed back by Prince Caspian meet with the prince and the creatures of Narnia to strategize on how to best approach the battle with Miraz and the Telamarines, King Peter makes a costly mistake. At this point in the movie, only Lucy has seen Aslan since their return and she saw him only briefly. The others disbelieve that she really saw him at all. From that frame of reference, Peter decides they have “waited long enough” on Aslan to come to provide leadership. He apparently believes Aslan has either died or gone away and concludes that “now it is up to us.” The results of his decision prove costly to their army.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

King Peter’s failure to do this cost the lives of many of the Narnians. His decision reminds me of a similar decision made by King Saul of Israel who believed he had waited long enough for Samuel, God’s prophet, to show up before a great battle.

Timing and location are critical elements in any battle. Impatience will always cause you to play into the enemy’s hands. To avoid his snare, we must always seek the counsel of the Lord and refuse to move until we have His strategy for the situation.


2) Failure to deal properly with personal trauma will knock you off course.
Once inside the moat-surrounded castle where Miraz lived, Prince Caspian was to see to it that the gates were opened and draw bridge down to allow the Narnian army to invade the castle. His first “detour” from the plan was to find his old tutor, Cornelius. Finding him cost time, which is a precious commodity when dealing with the element of surprise. It would not have been a critical issue had that detour not led to the second, more costly one.

Having found Cornelius, the prince learns that Miraz had murdered his father, King Caspian, whom he had believed to have died in his sleep from natural causes. This sends the prince to Miraz’ bed chambers to personally confront the (self-appointed) king. This both cost time and exposed their presence to Miraz and, therefore, his army. Prince Caspian’s emotional “need” to confront Miraz put all of those with him in greater danger. His personal “need” caused him to lose focus on the greater mission. It also pulled Peter and Susan off task to follow and rescue him. This meant all of them were now off the plan – and not where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there. In addition, Miraz and his army were now fully aware of their presence. The element of surprise was over and its advantage lost.

Failure to deal with our emotional traumas in a right way causes us to play into the enemy’s hands and to spiral deeper and deeper into sin. When we are controlled by our emotions, we react out of them rather than acting in a way we know is right. An example of this from scripture is found in 2 Samuel 13. King David’s son, Amnon, raped his half-sister, Tamar, and then refused to marry her, leaving her to live the rest of her life in shame. Tamar went to live with her brother, Absalom, disgraced because of what had happened. In verse 22 we read, “Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.” For two years, Absalom plotted to kill Amnon. By verse 32, “Amnon is dead. For by the command of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.” Absalom knew this was not the way to handle the matter because two verses later we are told “then Absalom fled.” This caused a breach in Absalom’s elationship with his father, King David, which was never properly reconciled. That breach eventually led Absalom to attempt to take the throne and kingdom from King David, resulting in his own death along with the death of many others. (See 2 Samuel 15-18.) Failure to deal with emotional traumas or unwholesome desires will lead us down a path of destruction, which will affect not only us but also others around us.


For more lessons from Narnia, check back for part 2.