Lessons from The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

This second movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series sees the Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy abruptly brought back to Narnia, this time via the London tube station instead of the wardrobe. The children are a year older, but in Narnia, 1300 years have passed since the children's departure from Narnia. Everything has changed. Narnia and its inhabitants are almost annihilated by the Telmarines. Those who are left have gone into hiding. Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the Telmarine throne has been usurped by his evil uncle, Miraz and inadvertently summons the children, (who are also Kings and Queens of Narnia) back to Narnia when he blows Susan's horn for help during a pursuit by his uncle's soldiers. The children and the Narnians helps Prince Caspian defeat his uncle to win back his rightful place and there was peace among the Telmarines and the Narnians.

I left the movie theatre with 2 lessons imprinted in my mind. The first comes from Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensie siblings. She has such simple yet great faith in Aslan. It is Lucy who sees Aslan across the river and tells her brothers and sister that Aslan is calling them to come to him. But because Peter, Edmund and Susan did not see Aslan themselves, all they saw was a huge ravine that separated them and dismissed Lucy. Yet, after trudging ahead, they could not find another way to cross and had to return to the spot where Lucy had seen Aslan. Lo and behold, there was a path for them to take that will eventually take them across the ravine. It was also Lucy who saved the day when she rides off alone to bring Aslan to save Narnia during the battle scene at the end. And Lucy who had the courage to stand by herself to confront the evil Telmarine Lord at the epic river battle, before she was joined by Aslan.

I am reminded of this verse from Luke 18:16-17:

16But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

The second lesson comes from Peter, the oldest. In contrast to Lucy who believes, Peter tries to win the battle on his own strategy and strength - a strategy that backfired and caused many Narnians to lose their lives during their failed attack on Miraz's castle. Later, Peter was almost tempted to bring back the White Witch to help regain his wounded pride and defeat Miraz.

How often do we try to win life's battles by our own strength, instead of relying on God? How often are we tempted to use wordly means to achieve our goals? More often, than we would like. After all, it is human nature. Instead, let us have child-like faith that God is in control and patiently wait on Him when we don't understand our circumstances. Let us have courage to stand in the face of our own battles knowing that God is by our side.