As often as I mention movies, you’ve probably already guessed I’ve seen quite a few of them. Another of my favorites is The Princess Bride. In the first few minutes of the movie the narrator (Peter Falk) tells his grandson (Fred Savage) about this farm boy who only ever told this cute girl, “As you wish.”
Then one day the girl realized that “as you wish” really meant, “I love you.” No surprise, later in the movie that “as you wish” was pivotal to revealing his identity to the girl who thought he was dead.
SIDEBAR:
“As You Wish” is the title of a pretty good book, if you enjoyed the movie. A lot of behind the scenes stuff that’s very interesting, including how petrified Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) was about getting fired.
Anyway, the only people in that movie world who would know “As you wish” meant “I love you” were the farm boy and the girl. When she pushes him down the hillside, anyone could have yelled, “I love you,” but only - ONLY - the farm boy could have said “As you wish.”
Well, anyone else who has seen the move could, too, but they don’t live in that movie world.
Do you live in the universe where God has tried over and over to tell you He loves you? Most everything He’s done in history is meant to convey that message. Back in the day of Abram, God could have fried all the folks living in that area. He held back, because there might (did) come a day when at least one could be (was) saved.
A few hundred years later, when Joshua was leading the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, one woman helped out. She came to believe in the God of Israel.
Just so you get the context, God had done some really remarkable things for Israel. Everyone was talking about it. The people who lived in the Promised Land knew about the Red Sea crossing, how Pharaoh’s army was wiped out, the plagues, the miracles, and all of that. They knew what God could do. When Joshua came marching in, they could have rallied around him and welcomed them in.
None of them did, except that one woman. They had the chance, and turned their backs to the Being who could crush the universe without breaking a sweat.
There have been plenty of miracles and unexplainable things in this world. You have the choice to turn to God or turn your back to Him. In other words, eternity with Him or without Him.
If you turn your back, He’ll say, “As you wish.”
