Imagine my surprise when faith remained a dominent theme for our entire Sunday, well, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise after reading a summary of President Snows life and the first chapter on his teachings or after reviewing the information for our Gospel Doctrine class.
Especially when you think about the title of the lesson for Gospel Doctrine: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.” What an amazing title for a lessong. No mentions of why, or the reasons, just that bold and marvelous declaration. “Behold!!!!”
A lot of the discussions about faith and the witnesses included commentary that they were ordinary men until the Lord appeared before them.
You may be thinking to yourself that you are an ordinary man or woman and the savior hasn’t appeared to you yet. You may wonder where he is in yoru life and why he didn’t make such a bold announcemnet of his presence for you.
While He may not have appeared and declared “Behold! Here I am!” I tell you that He has.
Despite the enemy creaming and raging and trying to distract you, no matter what your faith is, He is here with you. You just might not recognize His voice or His presence much like Lucy in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Wait, I’m comparing Him to Aslan? You bet your bottom I am!
As Lucy prepares to leave Narnia for the last time Aslan, the lion Lord of Narnia, whispers to Lucy that he is already in the world of man, though she may not recognize him:
“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.
“Are -are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.
“I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I didn’t understand as a child what this meant, but as an adult I understand C.S. Lewis and his thoughts and writing so much more than I did. Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, behold the Lord there on paper for you to see.
His appearances won’t always be so obvious to us, but they’re still there.
Take an example from just yesterday, a Vauxhill Crane operater in London is alive because the children who normally wake him up every day for work woke him up an hour late, sparing his life when a helicopter crashes into the crane itself:
The crane driver Mr Moule, 31, a father of two from Harlow, Essex, was supposed to be at work at 7am with his colleague Mr Biagioni, 30, but both were late, the Daily Mail said.
“It was the first time I’ve been late since starting this job three years ago. I just woke up late. Call it divine intervention if you like,” Mr Moule told the newspaper.
He said he was in the building’s basement ready to go up when the accident happened and he was evacuated. He said: “The first thing I did was call my wife Stephanie and tell her, ‘You’ll be hearing about this but I’m OK.’ She gave me a big hug when I got back home.”
Mr Biagioni, from Ongar, Essex, was late because his four-year-old son, who usually wakes him up, slept in, The Sun said.
His wife Leanna told the paper he phoned her to say he should be dead. She said: “Nicki was at the site minutes before it happened. He gets a lift to a certain level and then climbs a ladder the rest of the way.
“If he’d been climbing he would have died from the fall for certain. It’s too horrible to think about.” Saved
And his presence and voice doesn’t have to be as dramatic the stories of Narnia or the real life near miss in London.
It could be as easy as the voice that whispers “you haven’t talked to ….. in a long time” and you call them becuase you were thinking about them.
Or even that moment of inspiration where you feel warmth and love flood your heart and soul as you were blessed for the first time after baptism.
Those whisperings are there and if we learn to look for them, we’ll see them more and more each and every day.
How amazing is it to have faith once you know that you can listen, see and feel it’s effects each and every day?
edited to add quotes from Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I love the Chronicles of Narnia and I love looking for the applications to my own faith. I, however, have never noticed that quote from Aslan that he is in the world of men but Lucy may not recognize him. I have a firm testimony of this–our Savior is with us whether we recognize it or not. Thank you for sharing that quote
Just in case you wanted to go hunting, I have the quotes for you;
“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.
“Are -are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.
“I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Thank you so much!