It Stands to Reason… Until It Doesn’t

Once upon a time, Lucy ventured into the wardrobe and found herself in a new country called Narnia. Edmund found it, too, but decided to pretend he hadn’t.

So it was a great concern for the elder siblings, Peter and Susan, to try to understand why Lucy was pretending to have been to a make-believe country, and for this reason they visited the Professor.

The Professor felt the matter deserved great consideration, and commented:

“Logic!” […] “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies, and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.”

Peter and Susan had never considered this possibility: it seemed to defy all logic. 

But, as you may have guessed, eventually Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy all found their way through the wardrobe – together – into Narnia. And the siblings discovered Lucy had been telling the truth, all along.

Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of being 100% completely certain of your point of view until someone put the idea to you from a different angle – or gave you a new perspective?

Sometimes we are willing concede that our logic was flawed, or we were misinformed, or that we didn’t see the full picture. 

Sometimes, we’re too proud to change our stance when we’ve once stabbed a flag into the ground and chosen a position on an issue: come hell or high water, we are going down with this ship.

Darling friend, I’d like to suggest a really challenging possibility for you today.

At some point in the walk of faith it is possible – perhaps even probable – that you will be challenged to take a leap when you can’t see the ground in front of you. 

And you’ll have to decide whether you can trust the God who-loves-you more than you trust the logic in your own mind.

It seemed impossible that Lucy was telling the truth – but she was.

And it may seem impossible, the things God will call us to – but still, He calls.

Consider this excerpt from The Screwtape Letters, (also by C.S. Lewis) words written from a demon uncle to his demon nephew (Wormwood) on this subject:

“Do not be deceived Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

God doesn’t call us to abandon our reason entirely. He does sometimes encourage us to set it aside for a higher calling: trust.

If we practice trust and obedience in the small, every day minutiae of life, we’ll strengthen those faith muscles and perhaps be ready to take the leaps He calls us to.

It might behoove us both, my friend, to consider the possibility that the course of action that seems most logical to you and me isn’t necessarily the correct course to take.

It always seems the best adventures are always just beyond our comfort zone, in the land of trust and obedience.

P.S. I’m wandering my way through The Chronicles of Narnia again with my children and my goodness, they truly are beautifully worth the time of a person at any age. I also just re-read The Screwtape Letters, and my goodness, I think that brief book should be required reading for Christians. I think I’ll be revisiting it every year or two. If you need some new encouragement on your nightstand, these books will not disappoint! 

P.P.S. I’m so glad the meal planner has been a blessing to so many of you! Please tell a friend! Or if you haven’t yet, click the link below to grab it for yourself!

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