All His Biddings Are Joys

In C.S. Lewis’s novel Perelandra, the main character, Ransom, is sent to Venus where he meets The Green Lady, a type of Eve. The thing forbidden for this Eve, however, is not eating a fruit, but rather spending the night on a piece of fixed land. (In the novel, the Edenic planet is almost entirely covered by water. Free-floating islands make up most of the land). Ransom comments that obeying such a mandate is not hard in such a world as hers.

“That . . . is a strange thing to say," replied the Lady. "Who thought of its being hard? The beasts would not think it hard if I told them to walk on their heads. It would become their delight to walk on their heads. I am His beast, and all His biddings are joys.”

What if His bidding is Sudan, New Guinea, or the inner city? What if His bidding is that I lose my job? What if His bidding is that I be Christ to the stranger at my door? What if His bidding is that I be a cancer patient? What if His bidding is that I sell all that I have and give my money to the poor?

It is He who is bidding you. You may never see a reason behind the bidding. A reason is not necessary. The beauty of being His beast, His creature, is that you get to be His beast. You are His. You are His, and He is yours. And all His biddings are joys.