Some of the most memorable characters from C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia are the Duffers, from The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader.”
Those funny little Duffers thought they were so clever. They were so determined to be free from rules they missed the reason the law was in place: to make less work for them.
As a punishment for disobeying, the Duffer’s judge, a magician called Coriakin, turned them from dwarves into monopods—three-foot tall mushroom-like characters, with one umbrella-like foot. The vain little pods believed they’d been “uglified,” and responded by using the magician’s spell book to become invisible, so they wouldn’t have to suffer looking at each other’s ugliness.
“And we thought we’d rather be invisible than go on being ugly as all that. And why? Because we’d like it better,” said the Chief Duffer.1
Even when punished for disobedience, the Duffers were firm in their rebellion. Believing the Magician only wanted to burden them with rules, they blindly went on their own path, doing what they believed to be right.
Now invisible, the Duffers discovered they didn’t really like it. However, they couldn’t undo the spell. Because of their refusal to obey, these once jovial dwarves were now trapped as scared, helpless, invisible monopods.
In the Bible, the book of Judges takes place in the period in history known as the Iron Age. It was a turbulent and unstable time worldwide, when Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan. Israel felt vulnerable and afraid to trust that their God would protect them.
“In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes,” (Judges 21:25 NLT). Like the Duffers, the Israelites were afraid to trust their ruler, God, to have their best interests at heart. Instead of trusting His promises and commands, the Israelites rebelled and did what they thought was best.
Despite God’s faithfulness to Israel from their Egyptian exodus to the successful conquest of Canaan, Israel continued to fight God’s law and suffered the consequences of apostasy by eventually being split into two separate nations and exiled from the Promised Land.
The God of the Old Testament was good. He loved His people and wanted the best for them. But the Israelites kept forgetting the truth, and repeatedly trusted their own thoughts. Which repeatedly found them trapped and desperately needing rescue.
These stories make me wonder how many times I’ve stubbornly refused to see rules as something to help me live a better life, and instead forged my own path—unaware of the consequences my actions might create. And how many times I’ve looked at a situation and instead of seeing its potential, focused on the trivial, and missed the point entirely.
Thankfully, we can look to Christ for our assurance. Colossians explains how His death and resurrection rescues us from the sin we’re trapped in, and that Christ is the visible image of the invisible God (1:13-15).
Since the God of the Old Testament is the same God of today, we can look at the past as a way of preparing for the future. Just because something seems better, doesn’t always mean it is. Seek God in prayer; ask Him to guide you, and to show you what is not just better, but best for you.
1C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader,” (New York: Collier Books), 1952, p. 118
By Robyn Roste
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