A/N: This was an essay required of me for school and compares Ransom of CS Lewis's Perelandra to Moses in Exodus chapter 3. While it's not really fanfiction, I figured I would post it here.
Goal: Compare Exodus chapter 3 with Perelandra.
The Way of God
Our God works in mysterious ways, subtle and seemingly unmoving at times. He is a God of delicate operations, frequently moving through lesser beings to achieve His ends. He moves in ways we cannot see, and He moves through us in ways we may not see immediately.
In Perelandra, God moves to save Perelandra (or Venus) through a very unlikely source: Ransom. Ransom is an average Englishman, and Christian scholar, nothing extraordinary. But he is called by Maleldil (God) to save Perelandra from the Devil's preying upon the innocent Eve figure of that world. In Exodus chapter three, God calls on Moses in a similar manner to save the people of Israel and deliver them out of Egypt and Pharaoh's wrath. Ransom is a sensible man and immediately accepts God's instruction, while Moses is at first skeptical.
When Ransom is transported to Perelandra, he finally discovers what it really is that he is supposed to do: speak with the Green Lady (or Tinidril, as she is called later) who is the Eve of Venus, and convince her to remain faithful to God instead of swaying to the enemy. This represents how God is moving through humankind in general and Ransom as a simple man in particular.
God uses Ransom as a tool, really an extension of Himself to ward off the Devil's attacks on the Green Lady, thus preventing Satan from grasping Perelandra and corrupting it the way that he did Earth (or Thulcandra). In real life, God used Moses in a similar way. He used Moses as a tool too, a tool to use to free His people from the Egyptian tyranny and Pharaoh's slavery of them.
Maleldil also uses Ransom to eventually kill the enemy's physical body on Perelandra to really end the Devil's influence therein. He physically kills Satan by crushing his head and throwing him into flames, fulfilling the prophecy in Genesis chapter three. God really uses Ransom in this way, pouring complete holy power into him to allow him to do such things as kill a being far beyond his own plane of existence.
So when God moves, He often moves through His people, for His people. He moves through ordinary people for extraordinary reasons and uses that we could not accomplish on our own.
As I've explained, God often moves through the pathetic race of humankind to accomplish ends that we are not worthy of, but He chooses us for them anyway. So we as a race are a tool of God's, as we are individually.
In Perelandra, God uses unlikely and unworthy Ransom to accomplish amazing things. In Exodus, God used Moses in a similar manner. Both men were called to do things that they couldn't by themselves, but both managed to accomplish them anyway. It is the power of God that fills them and enabled them to do what they did.
As demonstrated by these two, God uses humankind, if we are willing to be used.
Often, humankind is the direct tool of God's uses. Moses really is a direct example of this, while Ransom is a little different. I'll start with Moses.
Moses preformed miracles with the power of God that enabled him so that he could show the Pharaoh. God poured power directly into Moses so that he could do these miracles and demonstrate the Heavenly power, causing Pharaoh to believe. As Pharaoh didn't believe, God had to keep powering power into Moses to allow him to repeatedly make it obvious who he was working for.
Ransom didn't get the power of God poured directly into him, but had to fight with what little he had. Being as he was, Ransom didn't have much, but God gave him strength to move onward, though he wasn't granted the kind of power that Moses was to do direct miracles. With his own strength and that little supernatural bit granted by God, Ransom was able to do what he must.
So other than being the direct tool, there are indirect ones too. Ransom was at times a direct tool as he was in influencing the Green Lady, though at times he was also an indirect one. Killing the Un-man (the body the Devil possessed on Perelandra) was an indirect action of Ransom's with God, because Ransom mostly did it of his own power (though of God's will) with only real minimal physical help from God.
So God works through humankind…But there has to be cooperation on our end.
God gave us all independent minds, and when he wants to use us, we have to be open! Moses was open after a little pressure, and Ransom was open from the start. Both men had their struggles, but in the end, they wound up accomplishing God's will very well, with help from the Almighty Himself.
In conclusion, let me repeat the statement that our God works in mysterious ways. He chose to use the stubborn, pathetic race of humankind to do His will for reasons we cannot know. Maybe it is His way of saying "You're not great, but I still love you." But when God calls, we must be open. If then we are open, He may use us directly or indirectly to do His bidding. Ransom of Perelandra demonstrated all of this.
Please review and tell me whether or not you agree with my points.