“You’ve got to face your fears! You have got to face your demons. If you don’t they will haunt you all your life!”

We have all heard this kind of advice at some point in our lives whether that be personally, in a famous autobiography or perhaps on a cool fighting movie or something! We can’t spend our lives running away from things, but sometimes there is a time or a season to run away…

4500 miles across the pond!
As you know in our case God opened up the way for us to literally move 4500 miles away from a very difficult time in our lives in London (see previous posts). For 9 months after crashing and burning out,  I held out as hard as I could to stay in London, to keep my family in our home and in our world! I was clinging to what I thought was best and most precious to me, but what we really needed was to somehow get away… After we arrived in Washington I came across this verse from the story of Mary and Joseph and noted it in my journal –

“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (Matthew 2:13)

Joseph and his family were diverted away from their home town in Bethlehem as part of God’s protection and rescue plan. And according to commentaries it seems that they may have stayed in Egypt for about 7 years rather than a few months before returning home.

God told Joseph and his family to run away!
What I found really interesting about this was that in this situation God does not tell Joseph to stand strong against an enemy attack. He doesn’t tell Joseph to fight the potential danger that was soon to come to his family. God tells him to flee. To run away and get the heck out of there!

Why is this taking so long God, Arrrr!??
God often brings us out from a dangerous or chaotic place in order to get our attention from all the noise and begin a process of healing. That process for me was and continues to be a long process!

At times over the last year I have gotten frustrated expecting that surely by now God would have me and my family all fixed, delivered and sorted from every problem in life! But it hasn’t been that way. “What’s going on God?! Why is life still so hard? Come on it’s been like 2 years!”

David was on the run from Saul for 8 years!!!
We read in 1 Samuel 21:10-15 that David ran away from Saul in fear of his life and went into a season of hiding! He was a fugitive on the run. What I didn’t realize was that David was most probably in this season for 4-8 years according to different scholars! I just always thought of it as maybe a few months reading the quick snapshots of the story in 1 Samuel. But no, David entered a season of running, of hiding, and of hardship for up to 8 years.

How can this happen to God’s chosen King?
Hold on a minute! How can this be? How can a righteous person like David with an incredible calling on his life be in such a situation? I cant imagine prince William (the next in line to the British throne) being on the run from danger and living away from home because of someone wanting to kill him. Why did God allow David to be in such a terrible situation? It just seems so wrong and unfitting for a King to be! He should be protected. He should be honored as a king, not left to be a fugitive on the run from a killer!

We are also God’s chosen Kings and Queens to be!
As born again believers in Jesus we are our now part of God’s royal family!

“And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory…” (Romans 8:17 NLT)

We are joint heirs with Jesus who is the King reigning on the throne of heaven. Just as Prince William (and Harry) is heir of the throne by way of birth and ‘sonship’, so we as believers in Christ are born again into God’s royal family and are heirs of heaven’s throne. By grace we will inherit and share in Jesus’ royal status as King. This is amazing!

“I’m gona live like a child of the King”
Every now and then I come across the motto, ‘I’m gona live like a royal child of the King’. What people usually mean when they say this is that they are claiming their God given rights to live a life of victory, freedom and blessing in every aspect of life. And while this is true of who we are in Christ, it is not the whole truth this side of eternity. You wanna live like a child of the King? Are you sure? Do You want to live like King David who ran for 8 years from Saul? What about our ultimate King – Jesus Christ? He suffered more than anyone! He was driven out from his home town. He was crucified on a cross!

God’s royal heirs must share in Christ’s sufferings…
Surely God won’t allow his royal children to suffer and find themselves on the run from danger… will he?? Here is the next bit of our wonderful Romans 8:17 verse speaking of our royal heirship with Christ –

“… But if we are to share his glory, we must also share in his suffering.” (Romans 8:17 NLT)

I liked the first bit of this verse about us sharing in Christ’s royal glory but this bit… well let’s say I didn’t expect to read this. This verse is not saying that suffering somehow earns or merits us salvation! But it means that a mark of being a follower of Christ is that we will suffer and experience hardship. I don’t believe this ‘suffering’ is relegated to just persecution for the faith as sometimes people may say. No, this verse is is talking about all Christians. It’s part of the Christian life this side of eternity!

Take comfort that you are Christ’s!
Suffering will come to us and God will purposefully allow it at different times and in different seasons of our lives. Why? Well that’s another blog! But for now here is the point – when you are suffering, when you are on the run from a certain situation in your life, when hardship goes on for a very long time – you can take some refuge in knowing that this is biblical! You are in good company with all the brothers and sisters in Christ across the world!

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.” (1 Peter 4:12, 13 NLT)

If anything our sufferings are perhaps meant to encourage us that we are truly God’s royal children sharing in Christ’s sufferings… I know for me that this theme has helped me find purpose and meaning in the midst of long term suffering and in finding an answer to the question of why Is this happening! I have felt at times a strange sense of belonging to God because of the suffering. A sense or confirmation of being one of God’s chosen and adopted children… a royal heir of Christ!