If you are in that small subsection of society that cares about the Hobbit movies but has not actually seen them yet, be warned:
*HERE BE SPOILERS*
Perhaps my favourite moment in The Battle of the Five Armies was in the first ten minutes or so of the movie. Bard finds himself on the top of a watchtower with a broken bow, his son, and the black arrow, the one weapon that might actually bring down Smaug, the dragon. The situation dire, Bard forms a makeshift ballista out of the wood of the bow and his son's body, steadying the missile on the boy's shoulder. The boy, in what appears to be both fear and curiosity, looks at the dragon, and immediately Bard instructs his son to look at him, and to be still. If the boy is focused on the dragon, he will be afraid. If he focuses on his father, if he follows without question the smallest instruction, "hold still" or "move a little to the left," his father can use him. It's not the son's job to fight the dragon, but he does have a role to play in assisting his father's purpose.
Having described to you the scene as I saw it, you probably get the spiritual warfare analogy, but in case you don't: Bard is God. As in so many stories, we should not see ourselves in the hero so much as we should see God there. Now, God isn't at wit's end. God isn't in a disaster ridden situation. God doesn't use us because he's out of options. But God is the one who fights the dragon. We are the son. We don't fight the dragon; no good father would ask that of his little son. It's out of our league. But God in his infinite wisdom planned to make use of us in his fight. If we focus on the fight, if we focus on the dragon who is bent on our destruction, we will be paralyzed with fear, and of no use. But if we keep our eyes on our father, if we obey without question his command, he will use us for his purposes, for his glory.
