Does Good Always Win?

Hello, tender friends, and happy post Superbowl Monday! Just an FYI in case you were hoping to read about football, this post has nothing to do with a sporting win.

We took Jacob to see a local community theater production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe this past weekend.

Even though it was community theater, the quality of the production was impressive! Scenery of the witch’s castle and the forest surrounded the seating area-magical!- but it was too dark for me to get a picture of it.

I did manage to get these shots right before the lights went down:

As the show started, I realized I’d forgotten how powerful the story is.

Cubby covered his ears with his hands at various points in the production and started crying when the witch yelled at Edmund. My innocent darling.

Anthony and I offered to take him out to the lobby because we were afraid it was too intense, particularly during the scene in which the witch kills Aslan. Cubby said no but asked, “Is Aslan going to win? Does good always win over evil?”

“Good always wins in the end,” we reassured him. “But there will be times that it looks like good isn’t winning.”

This point came alive for me in a fresh way watching this show. Aslan doesn’t stop Edmund from falling under the witch’s spell after eating her Turkish delight. He doesn’t deliver the four children from having to battle against the witch and her minions.

While we know that there are times that God fights for us and we need only be still (Exodus 14:14), I thought the play did a good job of depicting what happens more often: when God guarantees victory at the very end but still calls us to battle. I have often wished that I could be passive while God battled for me but much more frequently found that God battles with me in ways that are imperceptible in the moment.

If you’re not familiar with the story, Aslan allows the witch to crucify him as a ransom for Edmund after Edmund has fallen under the witch’s spell. At the end of the play, he comes back to life and takes down the witch when she tries to go after the children again.

Watching the lion hover over the witch in defense of the children was powerful. Anthony thought it was dorky that I started crying then.

But the world needs this message now more than ever. As I’ve met more people who casually practiced witchcraft in the past or grew up in homes that practiced witchcraft, as I read more and more stories of people consulting mediums to help them in their writing (yes, for real- check out brevity blog here on WordPress if you want to see it for yourself)- I keep thinking how badly the world needs this message.

Does magic work? We know from the Old Testament that it does. We know that Pharaoh had the ability to send snakes with his magicians. We know that God told us not to consult with mediums, but He never said that mediums don’t have power.

That’s where a lot of us get tripped up, isn’t it? In the play, does false idols are called deep magic. But Aslan’s ransom for Edmond is called “deeper magic.”

Yesterday and today, I find myself praying this:

Lord, let us not be deceived by magic. Let us cleave to your “deeper magic.” Let us never fail to recognize your ransom.

(Unrelated to the play, but I wanted to get a picture of my church’s decorations for Night to Shine before they came down.)

Ok, tender friends, that’s all for today!

Thank you for stopping by, and thank you for sharing!

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