movie analogy

12 Years a Slave: Faith That Survives the Unthinkable (Psalm 13:1-2)

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Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped into slavery, endures twelve years of brutality. The film refuses to look away from suffering—whippings, rapes, murder. Yet Solomon also refuses to surrender his humanity or his faith. The psalm cries: How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Solomon's faith is not triumphant; it is survival. He joins enslaved people singing in the fields, his voice finding the melody of lament. The film shows Christianity weaponized by enslavers and kept alive by the enslaved. Faith here is not comfort but resistance—the insistence that this is not how things should be, that there is a God who sees.

Topics & Themes

slavery suffering faith lament endurance injustice

Scripture References

Psalm 13:1-2 Psalm 137:1-4 Exodus 2:23-25

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