Saturday, January 21, 2006

Lord of Lords

I don’t think it is in the book, but in the movie Marilla says to Anne “To despair is to turn your back on God.” Pamela will know for sure.

That thought came to me tonight soon after I watched the movie “Lord of War”. I’m sure it didn’t help that I was alone (five immediate family members all from 5 to 5000 miles away) and that my blood sugar was low. If you haven’t seen it, I wouldn’t recommend it. At one point the main character, a fabulously wealthy gun smuggler, is told “I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you are already in it”. I had the overwhelming impression by the end of the movie that hell is exactly where the spirit behind the film might lead someone: to separation from God and from all good fellowship forever.

The relentless theme seems to be that evil reigns supreme and there nothing that any of us can do about it. My hope is that Nicolas Cage and the other producers supposed that the prospect of utter despair would send the moviegoer running to find God and thus to find release from hell on earth. Regardless of his intent, that was the impact on me. I found myself standing on a crumbling ledge, staring down into an abyss of despair. Even now, almost an hour later, I can still feel my soul crying out to God to be delivered from that vision.

The movie showed many, many sad truths and claimed to be based on actual events. I thank God that his gift of faith is adequate to shield me from the lies that even now assail me and coax me to leap into the abyss.

God is love. God is sovereign. God works all things to good. Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord. There will be no more crying, no more pain. We will live with him forever. Meanwhile, the pain is real. There are plenty of good reasons to cry. God is love. God is sovereign. God works all things to good.

O.K. Blog written. Snack eaten. At least one family member has joined me in my home. Time to read the bible for a while and rest. May God be with you. May you know Him and his grace.

Good night!

2 comments:

Janice said...

thank you for this post tonight. it helped me.

that's all.

Court said...

I think that peace and grace are the two things, I can truley say I feel on a regular basis. What an amazing feeling. I can't imagine what life would be like without it.