Choosing Trust Over Cynicism: Reading Through Jonahنموونە

Bigger and Bigger

In C. S. Lewis’s book Prince Caspian, the four Pevensie children return to the land of Narnia to find it is a very different place.2 Narnia has been overrun by the Telmarines and is now ruled by the tyrant Lord Mirza, who has plans to murder his nephew, Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne. The Pevensie children join Prince Caspian to defeat Lord Mirza. Throughout the book, the youngest child, Lucy, is repeatedly overlooked and dismissed by her siblings. Aslan, the Lion that represents Christ, has yet to return to Narnia. Prince Caspian and the three other Pevensie children are convinced Aslan will not return and the battle will be theirs to fight alone. But Lucy remains expectant that the Lion will return.

As the group continues their journey, Lucy spots Aslan in the thick of the woods. She shouts with excitement and tries to tell her siblings she just saw him, but they don’t believe her. Dismissed again, Lucy cries bitterly as they all prepare to sleep.

In the still of the night, Lucy is awakened by a voice saying her name. As she follows the voice, she sees Aslan’s silhouette in the moonlight. She takes in the stature and majesty of the great Lion and concludes that the years have made him bigger. Aslan responds that it is not him but simply her perspective of him that has grown.

This beautiful storytelling reminds me of a moment in which I found myself staring at my children as they looked out the window. In their youth, the world was so big. So vast. So full of wonder. As I watched them taking it all in, I realized that as they grew, the world would grow smaller and smaller. One day, the awe of watching a squirrel scurrying up a tree or the shapes made by the clouds would fade away. One day, the magical would become mundane. But here, as Lucy sits with Aslan, convinced he has grown, we see that beautiful paradox that is God’s Kingdom at play.

As we get older, things in the natural world become smaller, less impressive. But in the spiritual world, the opposite is true. The evidence of spiritual growth is that, as we get closer to God, our awe of Him becomes bigger. Sanctification produces a sense of awe, and awe is the antidote for our cynicism. A cynical heart is a heart untouched by wonder.

In Paul Tripp’s Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, he discusses constant conflict within believers to offer people principles, strategies, and concepts of Redemption instead of the Redeemer Himself. A heart plagued by cynicism, somewhere along the way, believes that God isn’t enough. And that knowing Him is secondary to knowing about Him.

Maturing in the Lord is not simply the act of collecting knowledge. It is also not a sense of superiority that leads us to hoard knowledge to prove we belong. Maturity is not growing suspicious but growing in astonishment. As we grow in Christ, our awe, wonder, esteem, and reverence for Christ grow too.

There is a duality of cynicism we wade through as believers. On the one hand, the world and all its disappointments and falsities produce a cynicism that leads us to desire the hope found in the Gospel. Those of us who cling to the Word are likely those who long for a better world and cannot find it in the things of this world.

Underneath our cynicism is a hopeful romantic who was knocked off their feet by a cruel reality.

Today we read chapter three of Jonah and saw how the Ninevites believed Jonah and repented, and how God relented and did not bring destruction on them after all. When we choose to trust in the Lord, He can do great works through us!

“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10, NIV).

Have you ever chosen to trust God even when you felt cynical? How can you choose to trust Him today despite your cynicism and perhaps fear?