Horton Hears a Who and The Intimate Friendship of God

On Sunday, I took the family to see Dr. Seuss' HORTON HEARS A WHO. It was a really cute movie and the kids all liked it. Alyssa kept calling Horton the elephant a "poppie"



















which was also very cute.

The movie also had quite an element of theology to it, although I couldn't agree with it wholeheartedly. The mayor of Whoville was discovered floating adrift without any hope of rescue until discovered by Horton, the goofy elephant. The movie then goes on to show Horton and the mayor having a personal relationship in which the mayor could speak to Horton any time he wanted. In fact, oftentimes the mayor was very much the high priest standing in the gap for the town and speaking to Horton for help and rescue. (Maybe I'm stretching it here, but I couldn't help but wonder if the genius of Dr. Seuss wasn't trying to make a statement.)

Anyhow, what I didn't agree with was the fact that Horton, representing God, didn't know what was going on in the lives of the Whovillers. He couldn't see them because He was too big and they were too small and insignificant. He couldn't be intimitately involved with their lives and therefore became the genie in the bottle to respond to every request brought by the mayor. However, there was something quite endearing in the way Horton went out of his way to take care of these little people... that he couldn't even see...on a little speck of dust... on a cloverleaf...in the middle of the jungle . In fact, I didn't even come to appreciate how cool that was until I was reading Job 29 this morning during breakfast and I saw the beauty of it. Job was lamenting and longing for the months gone by in which, in verse 2, he states "when God's intimate friendship blessed my house"

The Hebrew word for friendship is COWD, which means "the company of a person-intimacy" and it comes from a root word meaning "be alert and sleepless-on the watchout".

I'm sure we've all had friendships in which we feel completely safe and can be vulnerable, but there is no friendship that creates safety and comfort like that of God's intimate friendship. As the man of my house I desire to bring my family the enjoyment of the days in which "God watches over me, his lamp shining on my head and by his light we walk through darkness! When God's intimate friendship blesses my house and the Almighty is with me and my children are all around me." Job 29:2-5

So WHOever you are out there in Whoville, begin to experience God's intimate friendship which will bless your house.