Narnia: The Gift Of Assurance Series

Susan received two gifts during her journey to rendezvous with Aslan as she and her siblings attempt to save her brother Edmond. She received a quiver of arrows with a bow to shoot them with, and a horn. The bow and arrow is an obvious reference to the forceful offense that would be needed to defeat the evil witch, but why the horn?

We continue the sermon series, “The Gifts of Narnia” today, and we will discover how valuable Susan’s horn is to her and what it can do for us too. Today’s sermon is entitled “The Gift of Assurance”.

Our theme scripture for this series is 1st Peter 4:10 – “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms”.(NIV)

Our focus scripture for this sermon is Numbers 10:9 – “When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies.”(NIV)

How many times have you wanted to blow that horn of desperation and receive that help you needed to defeat your enemies? The wonderful truth about the gift that Susan received, is that we have all received this very gift, but in a different form. God is ready and able and willing to come to our rescue. But we have to pick up the horn and blow it.

When Moses was living in Midan far away from Egypt, were he grew up in Pharaoh’s courts, he met God in the form of a burning bush. Twelve hundred years before Jesus walked on earth God called to Moses and as He spoke to him.

God said;

“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Friends, God heard their cry. The Israelites called out to God for deliverance, in a prayer,… a call for relief,… and the Lord our God heard them. The horn of Narnia is a symbol of the desparate prayers that go out to God. I believe C.S. Lewis was recalling our focus scripture in Numbers as he wrote in this horn as the signal for our desperate cry in need. The cool thing about this symbolism is that this horn is a tangible item.

If you are worried and don’t know how you are going to make it, you can see or feel the horn on your hip and know and be assured that if you blow it, help is on the way. This is the symbol of our prayer life.

The Old and New Testaments are full of examples of prayers soliciting the rescue of God. No other Old Testament character knew the value of praying to God better than King David. David’s life seemed to constantly be lived out on the edge, and these perils motivated him to seek God often for help and assurance. During his rise to be King, as he waited for the proper time, the current King of Israel, Saul, pursued David and wanted to kill him. As he was hiding in a cave from Saul’s pursuit he wrote this prayer:

Psalm 142

I cry aloud to the LORD;

I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.

I pour out my complaint before him;

before him I tell my trouble.

When my spirit grows faint within me,

it is you who know my way.

In the path where I walk

men have hidden a snare for me.

Look to my right and see;

no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;

no one cares for my life.

I cry to you, O LORD;

I say, "You are my refuge,

my portion in the land of the living."

Listen to my cry,

for I am in desperate need;

rescue me from those who pursue me,

for they are too strong for me.

Set me free from my prison,

that I may praise your name.

Then the righteous will gather about me

because of your goodness to me. (NIV)

Do you have a desperate need today? If you do there is good news for you, my friend! God hears your cry. I believe you can be assured of that. Our assurance is not the physical presence of our horn of desperation at our side, our assurance comes from God’s constant intervention into the lives of His people over the span of history, and also the faith we have in His promises to deliver us. Hebrews 3:5-6 reminds us that God will not abandon us.