One way or
the other everybody will pray. This was
driven home to me on the finale of the much talked about show Breaking Bad. It was my little secret that I became a huge
fan of the show. It’s not a show for the
fainthearted, and it might shock you that I liked it. I’m sure most of my readers don’t watch it so
let me sum it up for you. The show is
about an overqualified high school chemistry teacher who gets cancer and due to
his pride devises a scheme to pay his medical bills and give his family a
nest-egg after he dies. The strategy
involves cooking meth and ultimately becoming a drug lord, overthrowing the
cartel. There is a lot of violence, drug
use, illicit sex and murder.
Though the
show taught me a lot about depravity, I never thought that I would see the main
character praying. That is what is so
great about the show; it is always shocking you and taking twists you never saw
coming (even though you tried to guess).
Walt prayed. Most people missed it,
but there was no other explanation. It
was like a moment of reality when he found himself surrounded by the local
police, yet not ready to surrender his freedom.
He took in his situation and knew that it would take a miracle to get
away. True to character, he said out
loud-without addressing God by name—Get
me out of here and I will take care of the rest. I didn’t say it was a good prayer, but it was
a prayer.
Walt, who
many people said was the devil, prayed like the devil. Isaiah 14:12-15 contains the five I Will statements of Satan. I will
ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit on
the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds
and I will be like the Most High.
Walt’s prayer was answered as the key to a snow covered car that
concealed his whereabouts dropped down from the car visor. Walt did take it from there. He didn’t stop to thank God or consider what
God might direct him to do. Rather he
made one last stand by visiting his family, accomplishing a seeming impossible
task involving getting money to support his family after his death and then
unintentionally freeing a person he had left in bondage. He seemed to die satisfied that he had made
the best of a bad situation. The manner
of his prayer made me think of the CS Lewis quote:
Man will either say to God; Thy will be done; or God will say to man; thy will be done.
The
fictional character of Walt definitely did his own will. It was a sad but realistic ending. Fans of the show pondered how it would end,
and I must say that dramatically speaking I found the ending satisfying. The more realistic ending would be to witness
Walt in the afterlife experiencing what he really did. He was so desensitized to the lives he was
destroying along the way. It would be
interesting to have all the people whose premature deaths were associated with
his actions line up in front of him. The
saddest reality is that he was a man who had it all, a loving family who would
have found a way to cope and carry on with good memories of him after his
death. He ended up leaving them
shell-shocked with a small fortune that could never give them what they lost by
his actions.
The story
demonstrates that our whole lives are prayers whether we realize it or
not. The question is, do we pray like
the devil—I will, or like Jesus—Thy will?
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