“God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows. God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a scorched land.” ~ Psalm 68:5-6
“At that very moment the king ran in and, discovering this spectacle, demanded to know the whole story. He then asked about his children and heard his own wife [the queen], who reproached him with betraying her, tell him of how she had gotten him to devour them…He ordered that she be thrown into the same fire lit for Talia, together with the secretary who had been an instrument in the bitter game and a weaver of the wicked plot.” The king planned on doing the same to the cook, but the cook explained that the children were safe. The children are quickly brought to the worried parents, “and, playing the game of three with his wife and children, [the king] sent out a whirlwind of kisses first to the one and then to the other.” After rewarding the cook, he then “took Talia for his wife. She enjoyed a long life with her husband and children.”[1]
The end is as satisfying as one of our own fairy tales. The “rebellious” queen and her minion are certainly living in a “scorched land”. Talia – a “prisoner” of the queen and once “deserted” to her sleeping death – is now “provided” for and given “prosperity”.
And all because our Sleeping Beloved heeded the call of love.
What if Talia had ignored the desperate need of her children? What if she had refused to awaken to the call of Love? Her children would have died. Talia would still be in a sleeping death. The king and his queen would have been in their waking deaths.
Without Love, there is only Death.
Talia’s story highlights the power of a parent’s love for their child. It points to God’s fatherly love for us: how He will do anything to save us in our need. He is the “father of the fatherless and a champion of widows,” after all. He is the God of the desperate.
And haven’t we all been desperate at one time?
What if our Father had ignored our desperate need? We’d be dead, stuck in the mire of this broken world with no hope. It’s why He sent His Son – the embodiment of Love – to die on the cross. Jesus the Christ made a way for us to get back to the Father, redeeming us from the brokenness of the world.
Don’t ignore the call of Love, dear one. Remember, without Love, there is only Death.
Sources
[1] Basile, The Tale of Tales, p. 416-417
