Bilbo Baggins up a tree.

There is a story that had a great impression on me from my pre-Christian university days in the early 1970’s. This was when I first read JRR Tolkien’s mythical story ‘The Hobbit.”  This furry, man like creature went on a perilous journey with 13 dwarfs to the Lonely Mountains to recover the dwarf’s treasure that the dragon stole. (Think garden of Eden and our lost inheritance.)

The book is loaded with incidents that vividly illustrate the principles of the Christian life (Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were the best of friends.) For example, there is one point in their journey when they were travelling through a gloomy and dangerous forest. They had been told to not leave the path under any circumstances. However, they were beginning to wonder how far they had to go before they would get out of the darkness. They decided to send Bilbo Baggins, who was the smallest and lightest, up a tall tree to find out if he could see the end of the forest.

Bilbo scampered to the top of the tallest tree, pops his head out of the canopy and after sightseeing for a while, wishing he could stay, he tried to catch a glimpse of the edge of the forest. To his disappointment, all he could see were woods in all directions. He reported this to the others. They were so discouraged that they foolishly disobeyed their orders to stay on the path. As a result, they were first captured by giant spiders (from which Bilbo rescued them,) and then they became captives of the hostile king of the elves.

As Tolkien points out, the irony was that the dwarfs were in a hollow when Bilbo went up the tree, and they were not very far from the edge of the forest. But because the ground ahead was rising, Bilbo could not see over the edge.

Bilbo gave an inaccurate report because he could not see the big picture. His view was limited to his immediate surroundings. If he could have flown, he would have got a bird’s eye view, and the story would have been much different and encouraging. The first application is obvious; stay the course, follow the instructions of His word, and keep your eye on the goal! If there is darkness all around follow the path and don’t be distracted.

Concentration on the short term, worldly advantages lead us to falling for the temptations called in scripture the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Adam and Eve missed the big picture and therefore flirted with the devil’s temptations. They could not see how continuing to obey God, however unappealing the serpent made it look at the present time, would lead to good results in the end. They looked at life and the world through satan’s glasses and like the Hobbit and his dwarf friends they ended up missing the path.

The antidote to satan’s whisperings is to see your life and your choices as God sees them and to not give in to every passing desire. Praying the psalms is a good way to do this. Praying the psalms helps us stay tuned to the challenges of living faithfully amid life’s common experiences and trials. Psalms gives a voice to our hearts during the lows and highs of life. We often find our hearts to be like a ship driven by wild winds on a stormy sea, and that is what we find in this divine prayer and praise book; heart felt utterances made during the storms and trials of life. Psalms puts our own heartfelt needs into words we cannot find. As you read you will pluck flowers from the garden of heaven.