I’ve been really getting into Lord of the Rings lately and I’ve been noticing how much it relates to our walk with God. I found this post online where someone asked why it had to be Frodo who took the ring and it inspired me!
So why Frodo?
Someone else could have taken the ring to Mordor, but Frodo volunteered. No one really understands the magnitude of the task, and they can’t understand it until it’s over. Frodo doesn’t know what will happen but he says me. He says I will.
However, if you look at the Fellowship, it took all of them to get the task done. Frodo had support in his journey, and it would not have been possible without it.
If you look at the other characters in LOTR, you can see how each of them has an integral role to play. You can look at the members of the Fellowship and see what their motivations would be.
Boromir thinks of how he can use the ring to defend Gondor, but Frodo desires nothing nothing except what he’s already left behind. He loses nearly everything yet he still says I will take the ring.
He makes this offer out of pure innocence and sincerity. He doesn’t know what’ll happen but he goes. He ends up losing everything to the ring. He loses himself, the shire, and the ability to be in the world.
Gollum too plays an important role in the story. He shows what Frodo could have become, but even as Frodo becomes mistrustful and wearied, as his burden grow heavier, he is never Gollum. He is gentle to Gollum, even though he is afraid.
Frodo is tired and afraid for two thirds of the series, but he keeps moving. He said that he would so he keeps going.
Why me? Why you?
God can use someone else, but he wants to use you.
I’m pretty normal. I’m not the most devote Bible reader, the most faithful prayerer, the most well-travelled, the most adventurous, the most financial secure, etc…
Like Frodo, I heard the call (God’s call) and I volunteered. I can’t ever really understand what it is exactly that God wants me to do. I don’t know the magnitude or what will happen or really anything. Often it’s only when it’s all said and done that you can look back and have some clarity. When you’re in the thick of it, all you can do it just focus on the task at hand and your next step.
Just as Frodo had the Fellowship, we too need support.
Some people are better suited to a task that God has in mind, but that doesn’t mean that we go it alone. We need support from the people around us; people to call us out and call us up. People with different views to help us see things clearer and challenge us to grow.
We all have God given gifts, talents, and desires for a reason. He’s made us to tick the way we do for a purpose. God uses who we are because he made us that way. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We can keep this for ourselves or we can choose to use our gifts and who we are to bless the people around us.
Maybe you were given them for no other time than now?
Maybe your love of photography will be able to bless an impoverished family with their first ever family photo.
Maybe your love of pink will be your doorway to connect with an orphan and see her smile at you for the first time.
Maybe you have been blessed with financial success so that you can share it with others.
I think one of the main thing that qualifies Frodo for the task is that he is willing to do it.
The same is for us, God desires a willing spirit. One that is willing to be broken and rebuilt by him.
Frodo’s life got a lot harder once he started his journey, and the same goes for us. When we follow God’s call with all our hearts, it’s basically guaranteed that satan is going to increase his attacks on you. He’s threated by you and what you’re capable of through Christ.
When this happens we have a choice, and this is why Gollum exists in the story.
We can choose to cave to what is evil, and to give in to temptation, or we can choose to rest in God and his strength.
Gollum shows us who we could have been (or can be). If we lean on God we won’t ever become like Gollum. As life starts to take its toll on us, we have the choice to control how we act towards others. Frodo chooses to act in kindness to those around him even when he’s at his lowest. Just as Frodo is saved from becoming Gollum we too are saved. We can see that God has saved us from ourselves and has brought us to something new and something beautiful.
Life is rough on us and most of us would say that we’re tired and afraid like Frodo. What do we do in the face of this? I know that there are many days that I can’t get through on my own strength and I’m so grateful that I don’t have to. I have a God who I can lean on and who will carry me through life.
We are all called to different things, “such a thing has to be chosen, lifted onto your shoulders for the right reason, the truest reasons, and followed into the dark, though it would see you burnt through and bled out.”
We need to run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way. and the sin that so easily holds us back (Heb 12:1)
When we trust God with every step of the way the impossible becomes possible. We don’t need to know the entire journey, just where to step next.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
Thank you to “the reason for the stars” for the inspiration and for a bunch of the analysis of LOTR. You can check out the post that inspired this blog at http://notbecauseofvictories.tumblr.com/post/103425890550/can-you-tell-me-why-frodo-is-so-important-in-lotr
