Aslan's water or Turkish Delight

I was walking around campus when suddenly I had a thought about the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe (LWW) novel series and movie. A thought came to me about how Edmund asked for Turkish Delight from the White Queen of Narnia. He took a bite and continued to eat ravenously. Soon Turkish Delight was all that he could think about. The Queen promised him more if he returned to Narnia with the rest of the Pensive children (Peter, Susan, and Lucy).

In another book in the series called the Dawn Treader, several new characters and the little mighty mouse (Yeah!) Reechicheep sail around beyond Narnia and eventually are called to sail out of the world and as close as Aslan's country as they can get. Once they move beyond the known world, they start to drink the water that appears to come directly from Aslan's country. They find that they only need a small amount for it to satisfy them, and it appears to be part of the reward for seeking Aslan's country. It is also sweet which is not a property of water found anywhere.

There are some real differences between the Turkish Delight offered by the queen and the water from Aslan's country. Turkish Delight is something anyone in Narnia using the right ingredients could make and give to Edmund. In the movie, the queen appeared to conjur it from out of nowhere, but it was still a product of the world they were in. Turkish Delight didn't satisfy Edmund. It only left him for the desire to want more. This desire led to him playing foul with his siblings which made him forsake the brotherly nature that was in him. The queen did not give Edmund the Turkish Delight out of her own goodwill (in the movie, one can find no mercy in her), but as a tool to satisfy her own glory.

In contrast, Aslan's water is something that went beyond Narnia or the world any of the travelers had known. It was always present, but the travellers had to find it. The water itself was not what they were seeking, but it was Aslan. Therefore, the water came as a result of seeking Aslan. It quenched them better than even their own water back home. This water also allowed them to look into His country more, so they were not decieved by it, but their eyes were opened.

In this same way, how often do we eat Turkish Delight instead of seek the sweet water from the country beyond our own? Satan may feed us a small bit of Turkish Delight - enough that we can smell it, but if we own it and take it from him, we only want more. We decieve ourselves, and we seek only that Delight instead of something bettter. But when we drink of the water from the
living God, we are immediately quenched. We are unblinded, and we begin to seek Him - the source of the water instead of just merely the water itself. Being satisfied with something that is beyond this world only comes from seeking the One who is set apart from it, the One who created it, and the only One who can restore it and ourselves.