I was listening to the audio book for The Horse and His Boy a while back and a part of chapter eleven really hit me hard. It was where the main character, Shasta met Aslan for the first time, take a look at this portion of the chapter...
"I do think," said Shasta, "that I must be
the most unfortunate boy that ever lived in the whole world. Everything goes
right for everyone except me. Those Narnian lords and ladies got safe away from
Tashbaan; I was left behind. Aravis and Bree and Hwin are all as snug as
anything with that old Hermit: of course I was the one who was sent on. King
Lune and his people must have got safely into the castle and shut the gates
long before Rabadash arrived, but I get left out."
And being very tired and having nothing inside him, he felt
so sorry for himself that the tears rolled down his cheeks.
What put a stop to all this was a sudden fright. Shasta
discovered that someone or somebody was walking beside him. It was pitch dark
and he could see nothing. And the Thing (or Person) was going so quietly that
he could hardly hear any footfalls. What he could hear was breathing. His
invisible companion seemed to breathe on a very large scale, and Shasta got the
impression that it was a very large creature. And he had come to notice this
breathing so gradually that he had really no idea how long it had been there.
It was a horrible shock.
It darted into his mind that he had heard long ago that
there were giants in these Northern countries. He bit his lip in terror. But now
that he really had something to cry about, he stopped crying.
The Thing (unless it was a Person) went on beside him so
very quietly that Shasta began to hope he had only imagined it. But just as he
was becoming quite sure of it, there suddenly came a deep, rich sigh out of the
darkness beside him. That couldn't be imagination! Anyway, he had felt the hot
breath of that sigh on his chilly left hand.
If the horse had been any good - or if he had known how to
get any good out of the horse - he would have risked everything on a breakaway
and a wild gallop. But he knew he couldn't make that horse gallop. So he went
on at a walking pace and the unseen companion walked and breathed beside him.
At last he could bear it no longer.
"Who are you?" he said, scarcely above a whisper.
"One who has waited long for you to speak," said
the Thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep.
"Are you- are you a giant?" asked Shasta.
"You might call me a giant," said the Large Voice.
"But I am not like the creatures you call giants."
"I can't see you at all," said Shasta, after
staring very hard. Then (for an even more terrible idea had come into his head)
he said, almost in a scream, "You're not - not something dead, are you? Oh
please - please do go away. What harm have I ever done you? Oh, I am the
unluckiest person in the whole world!"
Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand
and face. "There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost.
Tell me your sorrows."
Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how
he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by
the fisherman. And then he told the story of his escape and how they were
chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in
Tashbaan and about his night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him
out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert
journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them
and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to
eat.
"I do not call you unfortunate," said the Large
Voice.
"Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many
lions?" said Shasta.
"There was only one lion," said the Voice.
"What on earth do you mean? I've just told you there
were at least two the first night, and-"
"There was only one: but he was swift of foot."
"How do you know?"
"I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open
mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. "I was the lion who forced
you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of
the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was
the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that
you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who
pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore
where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."
"Then it was you who wounded Aravis?"
"It was I"
"But what for?"
"Child," said the Voice, "I am telling you
your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own."
"Who are you?" asked Shasta.
"Myself," said the Voice, very deep and low so
that the earth shook: and again "Myself", loud and clear and gay: and
then the third time "Myself", whispered so softly you could hardly
hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled
with it.
Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to
something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new
and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too.
The mist was turning from black to grey and from grey to
white. This must have begun to happen some time ago, but while he had been
talking to the Thing he had not been noticing anything else. Now, the whiteness
around him became a shining whiteness; his eyes began to blink. Somewhere ahead
he could hear birds singing. He knew the night was over at last. He could see
the mane and ears and head of his horse quite easily now. A golden light fell
on them from the left. He thought it was the sun.
He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than the horse,
a Lion. The horse did not seem to be afraid of it or else could not see it. It
was from the Lion that the light came. No one ever saw anything more terrible
or beautiful.
Luckily Shasta had lived all his life too far south in
Calormen to have heard the tales that were whispered in Tashbaan about a
dreadful Narnian demon that appeared in the form of a lion. And of course he
knew none of the true stories about Aslan, the great Lion, the son of the
Emperor-over-the-sea, the King above all High Kings in Narnia. But after one
glance at the Lion's face he slipped out of the saddle and fell at its feet. He
couldn't say anything but then he didn't want to say anything, and he knew he
needn't say anything.
The High King above all kings stooped towards him. Its mane,
and some strange and solemn perfume that hung about the mane, was all round
him. It touched his forehead with its tongue. He lifted his face and their eyes
met. Then instantly the pale brightness of the mist and the fiery brightness of
the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling glory and gathered
themselves up and disappeared. He was alone with the horse on a grassy hillside
under a blue sky. And there were birds singing.
- The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
This part of the book really resonated with me. It reminds me of this verse in Job,
God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. - Job 37:5
Now, think of what you just read not as a child's fairy-tale but as your story. Think of yourself as Shasta, and Aslan, the lion, as Jesus. It may seem silly but go ahead and try. Just like Aslan pushed and tried Shasta, Jesus is pushing us, His daughters and sons.
When Shasta thought he was just going through the hardest time of his life, being chased, dealing with grief, fear and burdened with so much responsibility it was Aslan pushing him toward a goal. And in the end Shasta found out who he really was and found his place in the world. He became a Prince!
You too, may be going through hard times right now, I know I am! But I have learned from this that God is ever pushing me toward what He has in store for me and that is greatness. All of the trials and stress I am under, or you may be under is all for a purpose. For a long time now I have told people who are struggling this: God knows what He is up to, even when we don't.
Thanks for reading,
Sincerely,
Sarah
