The Thought for the Day is from Psalm 34 v 11.
Come, my children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord
We will not get far in our relationship with God unless we understand that He is to be feared. In the Chronicles of Narnia, an allegory by C.S.Lewis, two girls, Susan and Lucy, prepare to meet Aslan the lion, who represents Christ. Two talking animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver prepare the children for the encounter.
“Ooh,” said Susan, “I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie,” said Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe? said Mrs. Beaver. “Of course, he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”
Our holy God isn’t “safe”, but He is good.
I remember very clearly the first time I watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Aslan was a very powerful force on screen. Liam Neeson, who is from my hometown, Ballymena in Northern Ireland, had the important part of voicing Aslan’s words.
I cried listening to him as Aslan delivered God’s message. It’s difficult at times to hear God’s message. Sometimes we listen but don’t hear as there are so many distractions in our everyday lives.
Using the words of the hymn, “Be still for the presence of the Lord is moving in this place,” we can pray that we will hear our holy and good God guiding us.