The Dithering of a District Diva

Last weekend I went to go see The Lion King in 3D with the bestie.  Though we hadn’t seen it in nearly a decade, please believe we knew all the words to the songs — and we sang them in the theater 🙂 Granted, I’ve since discovered that I was singing the wrong words, and The Circle of Life does not actually start off with ♫ BAAAAAH Syamieyaah seemame seemama!♫ (it’s actually “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father] Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it’s a lion].” Don’t say I never taught you anything!)  The movie took me through a range of emotions — from sheer joy to re-experience the film again, to complete agony (who can watch the murder of Mufasa IN THREE-D and not bawl out of control?!). But there was one part in the movie where I nearly lept from my seat and started to take a lap around the theater: the moment I realized The Lion King is about JESUS! 

If you don’t know the story of The Lion King, let me briefly summarize it: Mufasa is the king of Pride Rock and he has one son, Simba, the heir to the throne.  Mufasa’s evil, jealous brother, Scar, plots to murder Mufasa and Simba so that he can take the throne.  Scar succeeds in killing Mufasa, but not in killing Simba. Since Scar didn’t get the victory over Simba, he tricks Simba into believing that Mufasa’s death was really Simba’s fault and that Simba should run away and never return to Pride Rock. Simba does run away, escaping Scar’s second murder attempt, and sets up camp in a far off paradise.  Simba grows up carrying the secret burden of his father’s death. His new friends know nothing of his past or who he is and that allows Simba to avoid his responsibilities as king of Pride Rock, thinking he is too full of shame to receive his inheritance because of Mufasa’s death.  Then, with the help of two friends who do know who Simba really is, Mufasa appears to Simba in a vision:

Mufasa’s ghost: [from above] Simba.
Adult Simba: Father?
Mufasa’s ghost: [apears among the stars] Simba, you have forgotten me.
Adult Simba: No. How could I?
Mufasa’s ghost: You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the Circle of Life.
Adult Simba: How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.
Mufasa’s ghost: Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king. Remember…

My God.

This scene made me ponder three questions:

1) Who Is Your  God? Throughout Simba’s life, Mufasa protected Simba from dangers seen and unseen, fed him, clothed him, sheltered him, chastised him when he got out of line and on the wrong path, and most of all, showered him with perfect, uncompromising love.  At a very young age, Mufasa revealed to Simba his calling and his inheritance, took him out and raised him up to take his rightful place as royalty. In the end, Mufasa laid down his very life to save Simba’s life and so that Simba could have a better life.

That’s exactly what Christ did for us when He allowed Himself to be murdered in our place.  Because Christ laid down His life for us, we do not have to face a second death — eternal separation from God — as a result of our sins. Revelation 19:16 tells us this of Christ: “On His robe and on His thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”  Psalm 68:5 tells us God is a “Father to the fatherless.” Psalm 28:7 tells us God is our protector and our shield. Psalm 23:1 tells us God is our provider, we shall not go wanting. Jeremiah 32:17 tells us God is all powerful and that there is NOTHING He can’t do. Isaiah 9:6 tells us Christ is the “Prince of Peace,” and 1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is love.”

Remember who God is and who He’s already proven Himself to be!

2) Who Are  You?  When Mufasa appeared to Simba in the vision recounted above, he spoke to Simba with the gentle love of a father — but I can imagine what he was really thinking:  Do you REALLY think I protected you from hyenas, gave you everything, literally picked you up and showed you your inheritance, I laid down my very life for you, ALL for you to be chillin in the jungle with a pig and a rat, eating slugs and singing Hakuna Mata?! “You are more than what you have become!”

Can God say that about me?!  Too many of us are holding onto a shame that doesn’t belong to us. Yes, we may have actually committed the crime, but Jesus has already paid the price for us! We are FREE of that guilt and shame! Too many of us are living in filth (literally and/or figuratively) when Christ has already washed us clean with the sacrifice of His life! We can come out of uncleanliness!  Too many of us are living in stress, worrying about how we’ll ever make it to the next check, or to the next meal when God has already proven Himself to be a provider! Too many of us are wondering if we’ll ever find a mate or a better job or a better life, when God has already given us a soul mate in His perfect Son, Jesus and called us to have life and have it more abundantly!

Like Simba, when we face hard times, we may need a mental and emotional vacation to deal with the trauma. We may need to seek medical and other professional attention, and that’s fine. God has provided us with the people and the specialists we need to deal with our physical and emotional selves. But once we get back on our feet by the help and grace of God, we had better get to work.  We don’t have to shirk the responsibility and the purpose God has called us to live out because of fear or shame or guilt or lack of qualifications! He does not call the qualified: HE qualifies the called! We are the children of the all-mighty God! Remember who you are!

3) Who Are Your Friends? Simba befriended a warthog and a meerkat when he attempted to escape his old life and his destiny. They didn’t mean any harm to him, and helped him temporarily relieve some stress and find a semblance of peace in a hard time, but they did not know who he was and they could not see that he wasn’t living up to his potential (cause, let’s face it, they weren’t, either).  It wasn’t until his old friend Nahla, and his father’s friend Rafiki, came along and called Simba out, and challenged him to live up to his name that Simba sought the guidance of his father and finally took his place on Pride Rock and in the Circle of Life.

We all need three kinds of people in our lives: mentors, mentees, and peers, to ensure that their is a consistent pouring into and pouring out of our spiritual lives. While our mentors are crucial for helping to usher us into our purpose and to equip us to walk in our purpose, we spend the most time of all with our friends — our peers — and so they play a significant role in whether we will maintain our walk in purpose.  We must have friends who know who God has called us to be. Friends who will hold us accountable to a Christian, Bible-based life, and will challenge us in love when we are falling short of that life.  And we need to be those kind of peers to our friends, as well, so that there is mutual love, mutual challenging, mutual encouragement to continue to press on and live out our purpose — or even to discover what our purpose is.

Proverbs 22:24-25 says: “Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” If our friends are content eating the slugs under the logs, we too may find ourselves content to live how they live and forsake the feast God has prepared for us to eat; we may be happy to forsake perfect joy, peace, love and satisfaction for the little glimmer of those things our friends are content with. There’s are reason why the  Scars in your life want to trick you out of your inheritance and discourage you from walking in your purpose. When Simba remembered who he was and went back home and walked in his pre-ordained purpose, the Pride Rock that Scar had destroyed was restored; the animals in the kingdom had food and water and shelter again, all because he was obedient! When you become obedient to the will of God, you will be a blessing to the people around you! You will restore some things, families will be rebuilt, lives will be changed, people will fall to their knees and confess that Jesus IS King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The devil doesn’t want that, and he’ll use everything and everyone to keep you from your destiny. Check your friends!

Like Simba, the ideal situation would be that if your friends aren’t living the way God has called them to, you can take them with you into something better. The favor of God ought to be so strong on your life that it overflows to your friends! But if they don’t want to walk with you where you’re going, cut them loose, but keep praying for them.  But we must remember who are friends are and have friends who will help us remember who we are!

What if we all decided TODAY to take our rightful place on this earth and walk in the power and glory of God? How would your life change? How would this WORLD change?

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