God's roar keeps us safe and close to him

I wonder what God's roar sounds like?

It must be a sound that makes something in our hearts stir, finally awake, finally alive, finally true. It must be a sound that makes something inside evil's bones shake, die and dissipate. It must be mightier than ocean waves crashing against a mountain in a storm and more passionate than an army's battle cry. It must be the peace, the security, our hearts have always longed for.

I recently watched the movie "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and was intrigued by how fiercely Aslan (the lion that symbolizes God) protects Lucy.

When she is tempted by the incantation to make herself beautiful, Aslan's voice urgently calls out her name, calling her to him and his truth. He knows that this incantation -- though it doesn't seem like a big deal or a sin when Lucy momentarily admires a "more beautiful" version of herself -- is pulling her away from him and the beautiful he created her to be, the beautiful she already is. When Lucy realizes this in a later scene and casts the page from the incantation book in the fire, Aslan's roar is heard as he consumes it.

As I watched, I loved how Aslan so passionately and fiercely protected Lucy from even the small things that drew her away from him and the woman he created her to be.

The next day I came across Hosea 11:10 in the Bible. Here, God is talking about his unchanging love for Israel, even though they have worshipped other gods and not been faithful to him. He says, "My people will follow me when I roar like a lion at their enemies." Whoa. In the same way that Aslan roars as he consumes the evil Lucy struggles against, God roars at the evils that are our enemies.

Except he is infinitely more powerful than a lion created by a human mind for a movie.

He yearns to come to our aid and stand in front of us as the earth shakes from his glorious roar, no matter if he is protecting us from our circumstances, sin we have trapped ourselves in, or our insecurities disguised just cunningly enough as truth.

He yearns to destroy even the smallest bit of evil that dares to touch his precious sons and daughters. He is the all-powerful creator of everything good in this universe, the lover of our souls, our father, and he defends the good (that's us!) that he has created.

Passionately.

Fiercely.

Relentlessly.

All we have to do is utter his name, and he will tell us who he created us to be and how precious we are to him -- too precious to believe even the smallest lie the enemy whispers in our ear. Too precious to compromise to sin even the smallest piece of the good that we truly are.

He will roar so mightily that the enemy has to leave.

All we have to do is utter his name, and he will bring us back to him, our home.

Mia Pohlman is a Perryville, Mo., native studying at Truman State University. She loves performing, God and the color purple -- not necessarily in that order.