Lessons From The Little Mermaid

Jun 24, 2023

This past week, we celebrated my daughter’s 9th birthday; as a tradition we like to go see a movie together.

This year we chose to see the new Little Mermaid and it was… INCREDIBLE!!!

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a live-action remake of the 1989 Disney animated classic about a mermaid who falls in love, though forbidden, with a human man. Annnnnd, just writing that makes me laugh.

As my daughter and I watched in awe, though, it struck me how crazy the storyline is: talking mermaids, singing crabs with Jamaican accents, an unruly sea witch, and an all-powerful king of the oceans. Fun, yes. Realistic in the least, absolutely not.

Maybe the craziest part of it all, though, is the way they took an animated film and made it “real” which means it got pretty creepy at times. Most notably when a shipwreck takes place in the raging ocean right on the heels of a fun celebration onboard the royal boat. All of a sudden, the screen gets super dark, the sound is deafening, and the graphics are almost too good.

Truthfully, I got a little nervous watching.

And it reminded me of when, so often in our own lives, metaphorical shipwrecks take place.

We don’t have the benefit of knowing that the shipwreck will turn out okay like it does in the movies, so what gives us confidence in the chaotic storms of day to day life?

In Psalm 89, I feel like the psalmist is asking a similar question of God. Questioning if things would turn out okay, asking if He would come through the way He promises. In fact, Psalm 89 is a unique chapter because it begins with positively meditating on God and then turns to lament about what the psalmist interprets as broken promises. Just like many movies start out promising… and then wane with doubt, trouble, and disruption. And, just like in life when things seem to be going smoothly… and then everything seems to fall apart overnight.

I love what the psalmist says in Psalm 89:9, though. It says,

You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.

- Psalm 89:9

While shipwrecks and doubt may be inevitable in life, this Psalm ultimately reminds us that God’s “love stands firm forever.” (Psalm 89:2) That He is the only One truly able to calm the waves of the ocean and the waves of our lives. Regardless of how we may feel during any of life’s shifting circumstances, God is the same – always reliable, trustworthy, and unchanging.

Just like the tear-jerking final scene of The Little Mermaid finishes with good triumphing over evil, so God promises us that He has the final say in the end.

And unlike the psalmist, we have further evidence to know that God’s faithfulness does in fact continue to ring absolutely true in the form of Jesus.

No matter what your situation today, I pray you are able to pause, meditate on who God was and always is, and recognize that “... He is more awesome than all who surround him.” (Psalm 89:7)