“What will break me?

This is the question that consumes me over the next three days as we wait to be released from our prison of safety. What will break me into a million pieces so that I am beyond repair, beyond usefulness? I mention it to no one, but it devours my waking hours and weaves itself throughout my nightmares.” ~Katniss in Mockingjay, ch.11

So now I’ve read Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. And I have nothing new to say about the quality of the book or of the series. I loved it. I liked the ending, even though some people didn’t much. I read it in a couple of days, reading whenever I could get some free time. I’ll read the entire series again sometime, and I’ll recommend it to others.

However, the thing I noticed in this third book, the idea that impressed itself upon me, comes from the quotation at the top of this post. President Snow and Capitol goons are out to destroy Katniss, not necessarily to kill her, although they’d do that if they could, but to destroy her usefulness, her courage, and her ability to serve any good purpose. Snow wants to destroy Katniss’s ability to love. Snow uses other people’s pain to hurt and distract and break Katniss. He uses fear and psychological manipulation and blackmail and Katniss’s own weaknesses, all to devastate her and make her useless to the rebels. Katniss’s enemies can’t kill her, so they work on her emotions and hurt other people who are close to her so that she will be neutralized and/or become mentally unhinged.

Isn’t that exactly what Satan tries to do with us? It’s kind of like the story of Job. God won’t let Satan kill us or remove us from His presence; however, we are sometimes beset on every side. I’ve been feeling particularly plagued and bedeviled lately. One person I love has left the faith, abjured Christ and declared himself apostate. Another beloved friend has lost an especially close relationship and is questioning God’s faithfulness. I look at my family, and I see problems and pain and physical illness and sadness and broken relationships. I sometimes feel like a walking advertisement for the book “Things Fall Apart.” (I haven’t actually read it, but the title is evocative enough.)

One of the characters in Mockingjay is “hijacked”, reprogrammed, brainwashed, by the enemy. It’s exactly what Satan is trying to do each and every Christian. He can’t take away our salvation, but he can steal our joy. He can attack us in all sorts of ways in this less-than-perfect world, take away the people and experiences that mean the most in our lives, and destroy our usefulness to God’s kingdom. Sometimes I feel as if I’m inside the (very serious) game that Katniss and Peeta play in the book: Real or unreal? Has my friend really, irrevocably removed himself from God’s grace? Or will God work to bring him back? Can I see past the physical and emotional pain that some friends and family members are experiencing now to see a God who is good and will one day wipe away all tears and banish all suffering? Or will I allow the vicissitudes and the real torments that afflict me and my family and friends to break me into a million pieces so that I am useless and beyond repair? Will I allow Satan to deceive me and blind me to God’s goodness and mercy in Christ? Is there really a hope and a future for me and for those I love?

I don’t know, but at least as I read Mockingjay, I thought about these issues. And I prayed, “Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Give me the power to see what is Real and to be able to stand like Job and say, ‘I know that my Redeemer lives.'”

Good book. Good series. Good, hard, challenging thoughts.

Semicolon review of Hunger Games.
My Favorite Author reviews Mockingjay.
Jen Robinson’s Book Page on Mockingjay
Mockingjay review at Between the Covers with Stephany.