“Your Where?”
Sometimes I read a passage of scripture and I immediately identify deeply with one of the characters in it. This happened to me recently when I was reading the story of the Prodigal Son and the scripture says “When he came to his senses…” (Luke 15: 17). I felt that statement all the way to my soul. I have, in the past, found myself living in a way or a place, came to myself and surveyed my circumstances, and had a moment of wondering, “What am I doing here?”. We talked in the last session about what it means to be chosen as God’s child. About how He has invited you to sit at His Kingly table and eat the meal He has prepared for you, and you do this as a son or a daughter, not as an orphan or a stranger. The issue is not whether He has invited us, or if He has adopted us. The issue is that we so often don’t live like the adopted child He has called us to be.
One of my biggest concerns as a minister is that the majority of God’s children have no understanding of what it means to be His child. We are quick to say how much we believe in and appreciate the grace and mercy of God, but then we continue to live like we have yet to earn a place at our Father’s table. In the story of the Prodigal Son I mentioned earlier, the younger son never stopped being his Father’s child, but he did stop living like his Father’s child. His position as a son never changed, but he chose to accept conditions and treatment that were below the standard of what it meant to be his father’s child. What child of a king, a prince no less, gets sent into the field to feed pigs and is so hungry he is tempted to eat the pig slop? That was not reflective of who he truly was.
Today I see so many believers living in situations that are an acceptance of a condition and treatment that are far below what they should be willing to live in. Many believers feel powerless in the struggle against habitual sin. They just simply give into temptation because they feel there is nothing they can do about it. It literality becomes their default mode of thinking and living. It is just how they are, so they think. Or they say it is no big deal, they are not hurting anyone anyway. We accept sin as if there is nothing can be done about it. We accept poverty and a spirit of lacking because the economy is rough right now. We accept negativity and an angry temper because that’s how I have always been. We accept pornography because it is everywhere and everyone else looks at it. I can continue the list with sexual impurity, depression, worry, anxiety, unforgiveness, bitterness, and it goes on and on and on.
Mephibosheth was living in a place called Lo Debar. It literally means a place of great desolation. He had been a part of the family of Saul and in those days when a new family took over the monarchy it was always customary that the entire family of the previous king would be executed. In doing so the new monarch ensured there were no rivals remaining alive to challenge him for the throne. Saul’s family had left the palace in a hurry when news reached them that Saul and Johnathan were both killed in battle which meant David was the new king and he was on his way back to Jerusalem. They assumed they would be executed. In the process of the evacuation, Mephibosheth, then just a baby, was dropped and something happened to his feet and/or ankles so that he was left crippled. He was taken to be hidden and Lo Debar was a great place to hide because no one was going out of there way to go to the place of great desolation.
Here is the really amazing thing about Mephibosheth’s stay in Lo Debar. It was completely unnecessary. There was absolutely no point in which Mephibosheth stopped being royalty as the grandson of Saul. Yet by his own choice he lived in a place of great desolation because he saw himself not as a royal grandson, but as a person deserving a life of great desolation. The invitation to live in the palace as one of the King’s own children was available, but he allowed himself to believe he could never be royalty, and yet that was exactly who he always was. He exchanged his place at the royal table for a land of desolation, because he believed a lie about himself and about the King. No doubt he had been warned his entire life that the King would seek to kill him, and he believed it to be true. Actually, the King would have always gladly received him at his own table.
I see so many believers, myself included, often settling for a life filled with defeat, unhappiness, unfulfilled potential and powerlessness simply because we do not live as who we truly are. We have believed the lies of our enemy and have settled in spiritual Lo Debar. The lies we believe sound like; “you just simply are not good enough”, “no wonder no one wants you, look at you”, “If faith in God works so well, why does it not seem to apply to you?” “It is arrogant for you to try to live like that, remember who you really are when no one is looking.” “You will never be welcomed at the King’s table, remember what you did?” “Why would you belong at the King’s table? You are as ordinary and plain as cornbread. Why would He want you there?” “You are just who you are, you will never change.” Any of that sound familiar?
I want you to understand something. When Mephibosheth was in Lo Debar, he was never anything less than a royal grandson of the King. His understanding of who he was is the thing that he got wrong. His identity never changed, but his view of his identity got distorted. No matter where you are at, even if you are in Lo Debar, you are never anything less than exactly who God says you are. He says you are His beloved child in whom He is well pleased. He said you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. He has invited you to His table, not as an orphan or a stranger, but as His own child. Know this, if you continue to live in Lo Debar it is because you have chosen to. You have everything you need to come home and sit at the Father’s table if you decide to. Just a bit of advice…come home. It’s a great place to live.
Let me tell you a story of warning:
I just knew she would think it was hilarious. How could anyone not see how funny this was? My family was at the beach when I was about 8 years old. As we walked away from the parking area onto the beach, I noticed the tall amber grass growing along the backside of the beach between the beach itself and the parking lot. It was tall, thick and golden and the perfect place for an 8 year old boy to hide from his mother as a joke. So I did.
I slipped into the grass behind a slight sand dune, enough to hide behind but equally small enough to see over so I could watch the fun unfold. Creating hijinks was something I prided myself in. She unloaded and began to organize our variety of beach day supplies. It took a few minutes but I finally noticed her scanning the beach up and down, looking back toward the parking lot, interrogating my aunt and cousins as total panic slowly began to set in. I thought I would hod my position until the apex of panic then jump out and yell “Here I am!” She was bound to appreciate the brilliance of my joke and all the thoughtful planning it took to pull it off so seamlessly.
I jumped out of the grass, spread my arms as if expecting a huge hug and exclaimed “Here I am!!” It only took a fraction of a second to realize that she had failed to see the obvious humor in the situation. To say she was unimpressed with my wit would be an understatement equal to saying Noah got caught in the rain. When she was really angry my mother’s face would contort to some unholy looking spectacle and she went from zero to spectacle in under one second. I knew this was not a good sign.
My only hope of survival was to think and think quickly. I scanned the beach for options for a possible escape. The water! She could not swim and was terrified of the ocean. I sprinted full bore for the ocean, knowing it was my only hope to avoid the beating of my life. She pursued trying to take an angle to cut me off before I could get there. I splashed in and moved quickly to a depth up to my neck, knowing she would not follow out there.
“You get out of there!” She demanded.
“No!”
“There are sharks in there!” Nice try mom.
“I’ll take my chances with the sharks!”
She walked back and forth a bit. I figured I would play around a while and she would calm down and realize just how happy she really was that I was safe and alive. It would blow over and soon be forgotten. I would splash and play, occasionally ride a wave part of the way back to shore and never realized what was happening without my noticing it. An ever-so-slight undertow was moving me further and further down the beach the entire time. After a couple of hours I decided to test the situation and see if it was safe to return. However, as I emerged from the water I recognized absolutely nothing, I did not see one person I knew, the buildings were all different, and there was no sidewalk back to the parking lot. Did they leave me? That tiny undertow, over about a 3 hour period had washed me a significant distance down the beach. It had happened so subtly I had never even noticed what was happening.
I do not know of a single person who gets up one morning and says “I think I will have a really critical and negative spirit toward myself. I need some more poor self image in my life” Or “Today I am going to refuse to forgive someone and hopefully I will end up bitter and cynical for the rest of my life”. Or how about “You know, I just don’t worry enough. One can never get enough anxiety in his/her life”. How about “I think I will become an addict today. Addiction seems to do great things in the lives of all the addicts I know.’
My point is this; your moving into the land of LoDebar was not an overnight trip, nor was it intentional. No one moves to the Land of Great Desolation because it seems like a fun thing to do. No matter how you got there, or how long you have been there, please, just leave! You are a royal child of The King, just come home to Him. He is waiting for you and it would thrill Him if you came to sit at His table.
Additional Readings:
- Luke 15:11-32 (4) Galatians 3:26
- Matthew 3:13-17
- Ephesians 2:1-10 (5) The Return of The Prodigal by Henri Nouwen
Questions for Thought
- Can you identify some of the lies you have believed at various times in your life that have led you to a LoDebar season?
- What emotions do you feel when you think of the LoDebar seasons of your life?
- How have the lies adversely affected the joy and peace you have experienced as a believer?
- How did you have a “come to your senses” moment?