Quote:

"Things never happen the same way twice, dear one.”  – C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Context:

As the saying goes, “God works in mysterious ways.” We know that is true. Our God is a God of mysteries. He does not work in an orderly schedule, with everything outlined for the next fifty years for us to see. 

In C.S. Lewis’s story, The Chronicles of Narnia, we see this displayed in Aslan, who represents Jesus. In the context of this quote Lucy Pevensie has returned to Narnia with her siblings and goes to find Aslan in the midst of the battle against the evil king. When she finds him, Lucy asks Aslan why he does not swoop in and defeat the evil king, destroying the army and saving them as he did before. 

The question of why did this happen, or why did this not happen, is a hard one to deal with, but it is one that most people must come to terms with at some point. Here we see Lucy wondering the same thing. 

Why does Aslan not come in mighty and save them in a marvelous victorious story as he did in the last book? 

They are in distress and Lucy is sent off, trying to find Aslan, hoping that he will come and rescue them because measures are getting desperate. She finally finds him and asks him if he’ll come. But his answer confuses her. 

Aslan says, “Things never happen the same way twice, dear one.”  

Why would he say this? 

As we said at the beginning our God works in mysterious ways. He doesn’t work with a system that tells Him exactly what to do and when to do it. He works His own way, with a clock that does not match ours. But we need not be scared because He is God.  His ways are higher and mightier than ours. Which means everything that happens, happens for a reason and a purpose that we can not see.  We learn to trust Him because He knows best! His ways are not our own.

It reminds me of a story in the book of Exodus. The Israelites have been rescued from their oppressors and have been brought up into the desert. But Moses, through the direction of God, does not lead them to the easier route, by going through the desert but to the Red Sea. However, that sea cannot be crossed and because they are now trapped the Israelites grew angry. They couldn’t believe that Moses saved them from the Egyptians just to bring them to this place to be trapped. When they see the Egyptians rushing on them, coming to take them back, they begin to panic. But what happens next blows their minds. 

We all know the story of the parting of the Red Sea. But the Israelites did not know the whole story, so they feared. Why did God not just take them through the easier way? 

He wanted to show them His power and that He has control over all. That a little Red Sea can’t stop Him from saving His people. 

Things don’t happen twice because we don’t serve a predictable God. In the moment it may not seem like it, but looking back we can understand that whatever happened was God's way of showing us His love and protecting us. His way for us to see His glory on earth. 

Preparing us for something even greater than what we can imagine. 

But I want to take a closer look at the quote. The last two words stick out to me. Aslan calls Lucy, dear one, making his comment mean so much more. It wasn’t just some passive thing he said to a stranger that life takes different turns every now and then. But calling her dear one signifies His love and understanding. Aslan knew that His words would confuse her and most likely make her upset, so He added a term of endearment to show her that He cares and His love reaches beyond the hardest of things. He wanted to tell her that He would sweep in and deliver them into a mighty victory, but that was not what was best. 
Oftentimes what's best is harder, scarier, and more tiresome than what's easy. But we hold onto the promise that God loves us no matter what and He has greater plans than we could ever know or hope for. 

So fear not, dear one, God is stronger than what we face and His love is the greatest gift of all. 

 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the joy that is coming." Romans 8:18

Written by: Adalyn E. Skains