A little truth with that lie, please

Jill looked at the King: his mouth was open and his face was full of horror. And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies’ plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger. What was the good, now, of telling the Beasts that an ass had been dressed up as a lion to deceive them? The Ape would only say, “That’s just what I’ve said.”

The Last Battle

C. S. Lewis had such insight into our fallen nature. We often fall quicker for a lie if it is subtly mixed with some truth. That small element of truth is the part we will cling to, allowing ourselves to ignore the false part, thus trapping ourselves into believing that it is all okay.

“Mercy! Mercy!” wailed the Beasts. “Spare us, Lord Shift, stand between us and Aslan, you must always go in and speak to him for us. We daren’t, we daren’t.”

The Last Battle

Reminds me of the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness and their fear of going before God on Mt. Sinai. They begged Moses to stand in the gap. And I don’t blame them...

For they could not endure the order that was given,
"If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned."
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said,
"I tremble with fear."
~ Hebrews 12:20, 21

But, praise God, we have Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and we need no one other than him to clear the path for us so we can go boldly to God to find mercy and grace. That's the full truth!

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
~ Hebrews 4:16