By Bruce Green
My wife Janice is watching The Crown and is somewhere in the third season.
There was an episode she wanted me to watch (Moondust) that was about Prince Philip experiencing a crisis of faith. Anytime you watch something based on history, there is usually a fair share of artistic license exercised and this episode was no different.
That said, Philip’s crisis seemed real enough. His mother had recently passed away and he was reflecting on his life and didn’t like some of the things he saw. In particular, he wasn’t pleased with what was happening (or actually what wasn’t happening) at church, so he stopped attending. He was particularly enamored with the astronauts, the moon landing and the space program. These men were boldly going where no man had gone before, challenging and stretching the barriers of human existence. He was not. His life was filled with boring official duties (visiting a dental facility, a concrete plant, and speaking to the Wool Textile Delegation).
The pivot point in the episode occurs when the three Apollo 11 astronauts visit Buckingham Palace and Philip gets to meet with them privately. To his dismay, he finds out that they don’t have any more answers than he does.
After a time, he comes to realize that while space exploration is wonderful, meaning and purpose in life are not found through reaching for the stars but by trusting in the One who made them.
The episode was a breath of fresh air as it is at odds with so much of what is cranked out by the entertainment industry. More to the point, it showed what happens whenever we downsize God and maximize ourselves—we lose our anchor and begin to drift aimlessly. It is only when we humble ourselves and let God be God that we find life. Peter tells disciples to “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6). If you look at these words carefully, it is a power text. Yet it is out-of-sync with what we usually hear about it regard to power. Typically, we are told we need to take charge, be the loudest voice in the room and seize control. Peter pushes us away from that kind of thinking and tells us how to act in the face of real power as he urges us to humble ourselves “under God’s mighty hand.”
He promises that God will lift us up in due time. More times than not, isn’t that what gets us into trouble—our attempts to lift ourselves up? Regardless of what we weigh, that’s heavy lifting and we’re not very good at it so it is best to leave it to God. He knows the right time and the time place.
Humble yourself and let God be God.
You can find more of Bruce’s writings at his website: atasteofgracewithbrucegreen.com.