And he thought about Turkish Delight and
about being a King (“And I wonder how
Peter will like that?” he asked himself.)
and horrible ideas came into his head.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
When we are consumed with something, we may begin to doubt
the truth and fill our minds with distorted thoughts. This is what
we see happen with Edmund. He cannot stop thinking about the
delicious Turkish Delight the Witch gave him. He believes he needs
to eat it and allows his emotions to control him.
A friend of mine once told me a story of how they capture monkeys
in Africa. He told me that they put candy in a cage and leave a
small door open where the monkey can put his arm in to grab the
candy. When the monkey grabs the candy he has to make a fist, and
when he tries to pull his hand out it gets stuck. My friend told me
that the monkeys would not let go for hours—the people trying
to catch the monkeys would just come up and grab them from
behind.
Sometimes we are like these monkeys. All we have to do is let go
but we hang on to sin with all our energy. It is amazing how far
we will go to not let go. Edmund goes to great lengths to get his
Turkish Delight and to try to fulfill his dreams of becoming king.
We read that he travels for miles in the snow and is freezing as he
works his way toward the Witch’s palace. He undergoes darkness,
loneliness, coldness, body aches, and bruises.
Often we suffer many consequences as we follow the wrong path
and distance ourselves from the truth. It also common, as Edmund
did, to blame others for our unfortunate circumstances as well.
Lewis writes, “And every time this happened he thought more and
more how he hated Peter—just as if all this had been Peter’s fault.”
It is incredible how we succumb to the depths of denial when
we so desperately do not want to give up something. Edmund
demonstrates what can happen to all of us if we allow ourselves to
lose our focus and allow temptation’s pull to take us down the road
to sin.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone
to devour. Resist him, standing fi rm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout the
world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
– 1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
For although they knew God, they neither glorifi ed
him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools….
– Romans 1:21-22 (NIV)
