Hands that Hold

It has always amazed me how movies or dramas can serve as such great illustrations about things we witness in life. They seem to carry a lot of parallels, and that is because even fantasy films have to include some form of reality. It's how audiences connect.

One illustration I’ve wanted to share for a long time but haven’t known how to piece together actually comes from a book within the Chronicles of Narnia series. I think everyone seems to have a favorite book within C.S. Lewis’s collection. For most people, it is probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Voyage of the Dawn Treader that hits the top of their list of favorites. For myself, however, it has always been The Silver Chair.

This sixth installment to the Narnia series (although not written in order) focuses on a certain prince who, years ago, disappeared while seeking vengeance on a serpent that murdered his mother. After his disappearance, the years pass slowly, and there’s no sign of Prince Rillian. The king himself has given up almost all hope that his son can be found. But that is when the heroes of the story enter the world of Narnia. Unknown to them, they are about to embark on a very dangerous journey filled with great peril and possibilities of failure. Aslan the great lion gives them signs which they must follow in order to find the lost prince.

Along the way, the two children—Jill and Eustace—encounter a marshwiggle named Puddleglum—an Eeyore of a personality but one also of intense loyalty. The three of them traverse dangerous roads, escape giant threats, and eventually find themselves underground in deep, mysterious caverns. With no other choice but to go further in, the trio is led by the creatures of Underworld to a palace, where they meet a handsome man—a knight in service to the queen of Underworld. This queen is the same woman whom their party had encountered previously on their journey. She was the lady of the green kirtle. A person not to be trusted.

In making acquaintance with the handsome knight, Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum discover something very queer in his personality. He is gentlemanly...until the wrong words provoke him to a flash of anger. And then…hideous laughter. When listening to the audio version of The Silver Chair, this laughter sends genuine chills down the listener’s spine. The man is not normal. He is not as he should be. Something is wrong, and yet what is it?

Over the course of a fine meal, the knight reveals the queen’s ghastly plan to surprise Narnians on the surface above with an army of earth men. Without warning, Narnia would be conquered almost overnight. And with only feet left to dig, this army would soon assemble itself for a massive carnage. The heroes know they must do something to stop the queen’s plot, but what? They had come to find the lost prince. That was their mission. All the previous signs had led them to this point. So, what else was there to do?

Among other things, the knight shares another disturbing detail with the travelers: his life is troubled. Due to a ‘spell’ of some sorts which throws him every night into fits of rage, he speaks and does things not of himself. And so, every night, when his hour draws near, he must be bound by the earth men to a certain silver chair, in order to ‘protect’ him from becoming—as the queen says—a heinous serpent.

In truth, it was the silver chair that the queen of Underworld was using to keep the man under the power of her spell. Unknown to our heroes, this knight is none other than the king’s son, Rillian, whom they are seeking.

Shortly after being bound, the knight’s frenzy initiates. He begins to spit out phrases and recall memories of a different man—a man who had once known the warmth of the sun and the color of the trees. When he was child, he could look in the water and see the trees upside down in the reflection. Normal life! Oh, for normal life! “How many years has it been??” He asks, “has it been ten years or a THOUSAND??” He struggles again with the cords holding him to the chair. “Let me out,” he pleas with them, “Let me go back!”

The trio struggles in a different way, arguing if they really should release this man. They had previously made him a promise that no matter what he said to them, they would not loose his bonds. But the climax and pressure of the scene becomes more and more desperate as he begs them to free him from his prison. Jill shouts, “Oh! But he looks so sane now!”

The heroes remain fast until finally the knight appeals to a name which fulfills the final sign: “By all fears and all odds. By the bright skies of overland. By the great Aslan himself!” A hush of awe then fills the hearts of the rescuers. “He called upon the name! His name!”

Still not fully sure if they should set him free, Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill go back and forth with each other once again. Finally, one of the children exclaims, “Oh, if we only knew what to do!” Their old companion then replies out of his faithfulness to the lion: “I think we do know. Aslan didn’t tell us what would happen. He only told us what to do.” Believing that all will work out, he and Eustace draw their swords and slash the ties binding the prince to the chair. Rillian drops to the floor, crying out in tears of joy while looking at his freed hands. No more bonds. No more tortures. He was finally free of the chair--that "vile engine of sorcery".

The found prince looks at his rescuers, as if truly for the first time. “What’s this? Do I see before me a marshwiggle? A real life, honest, Narnian marshwiggle?” Rillian had not known any aspect of ‘normal’ for so long that when he beheld the ones who had freed him, great joy filled his heart and tears streamed down his eyes.

Illustrations like this one can sometimes be used in different ways. Maybe for some people, it makes them think of the day they became a Christian. They were finally free from sin’s hold on their lives. For others like myself, perhaps it makes you think about a time in your life when God delivered you from a certain hardship—one long-lasting. It makes me think of two big things that happened in my family. First, when I went through Anorexia. And second, when my mom was going through depression. Both were awful and everyone wanted ‘normal’ again. (You can read more about each of these stories in one of my earlier blog posts, but what I do want to emphasize is that it was the name of Christ in our lives that made all the difference. Of all things we held dear, of all things precious to my family, He was the One we held on to. He was the One who walked us through the darkness and held our hands in the sunshine).

I think one of the most important things I learned in my counseling education is that, when we’re helping people, the one they need the most is Christ. And we need to have Christlikeness flowing out of our lives, controlling everything that we say and do. God is the One who delivers us from all of our troubles. As helpers in someone else’s life, we need to be like Christ. We need to be “people who not just walk with someone through the darkness, but also hold their hand in the sunshine”.

When we come out of something, the warmth of that sunshine feels really good. We can remember who was there with us. God never gave up on us. It is a powerful statement about the depth of His love: there is no pit or depth in which He is not present and will not be our hope in coming out. Christian life isn’t ‘normal,’ as we define it, but God gives us perfect peace and healing in Christ. In Him, we really can live peace-controlled lives. In Him, we really do walk in victory every day. No matter what the past has been, no matter what is the case now, and no matter what is to be, God will be faithful.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

-2 Timothy 1:7