lessons from Narnia – part 3

In lessons from Narnia – part 1 and part 2, we have discussed five lessons:

1. Impatience is costly.
2. Failure to deal properly with personal trauma will knock you off course.
3. Talking with the enemy will cause you to lose your advantage.
4. Disunity will set you up for deception.
5. When you don’t finish the job, you allow room for the enemy to work.

In part 3, we will wrap this series up with two additional lessons.


6) God is waiting for us to engage Him in our battle.
When Lucy finds Aslan, he has been waiting for them to come for him. He is well aware of the situation and their need for him. However, he was waiting for them to come to him to ask for his help rather than him simply coming to their rescue. This is consistent with what we are told in Jeremiah 29:11-13.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

While God’s plans for us are good ones, He waits for us to seek after Him to obtain them. It wasn’t until Lucy went searching for Aslan with all her heart and all her strength that she found him. And it wasn’t until she found him that he “listened” to the cry for help she brought from the others. He began to fight on their behalf immediately. Even before he arrived at the scene of the battle, he engaged the trees and elements of nature to fight for Peter, Edmund, Susan, Caspian and the Narnians.

This may seem like just part of the tale spun by Lewis in his writings, but the Bible records the fact that the elements of nature do sometimes align themselves to assist God’s people in their battles, as well as God, Himself, “getting in on the act.” Following are a couple of examples.

“And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the LORD cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword. Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: ‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.” Joshua 10:11-13 (emphasis added)

“And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Exodus 14:19-29 (emphasis added)

I just love the stories where God gets into the fight!


7) The enemy always underestimates God.
In 1 Kings 20:23, the servants of the king of Syria reasoned that “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they.” Of course, that was not true. In fact, according to scripture, God took the accusation personally and it ensured their defeat!

The Telamarines similarly argued that if they crossed back over the river, they would be able to defeat the Narnians. The scene that follows reminds one of the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites – though this time the Telamarines are fleeing before the Narnians. It is here that the Telamarines come face to face with Aslan and realize that he does exist, that he is fighting against them, and that his power is definitely greater than their power. Any time we encounter God “face to face” we will always be reminded of Who He truly is.


As stated at the beginning of this series, these are just a few of the truths that C. S. Lewis wove into the story and that were portrayed in the movie. I trust you have found some nugget of truth in this series. If so, Selah, “think on these things” – and on other Simple Truths from the Word of God.