Paul’s Advice

“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:24-25

A dead dog.

That’s the term Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, used to describe himself before King David (2 Samuel 9:8). A prince, abandoned by his people, deformed by circumstance, relegated to the background and left in the dark. What would a living dog do in his place? Bark. Assert authority as the grandson of a dead king, but the will of God faced another direction.

Moses, another prince, barked in Egypt at the wrong time, and Egypt ran him off. God allowed him to experience the darkness, a place of the unknown. In this place, one is stripped of everything, to allow God to have his way. Moses also became a dead dog, unable to bark, until his time came.

What happened to Moses, a prince, tending another’s sheep? How did he cope from being waited on, to being the waiter? Moses, the prince of Egypt, died to give way to Moses, the deliverer. To some, his story is one of calamity, until the rest of the story plays out. Out of the catastrophe that befell him, came the call to such greatness that centuries after his death, we are still telling his stories to our children and grandchildren. Imagine such a life!

When David elevated Mephibosheth’s status, he went from prince nobody to the prince that eats at the king’s table. Ziba, Saul’s former servant, who had 20 people serving in his home, attended this lame man with everbody in his house. Mephibosheth and Moses learned humility by the things they suffered.

Why does God allow us to go through seasons of darkness? This question is not for God; it’s for us. If all things work together for good for the sons of God who love Him, doesn’t that mean that whatever we go through is moving us towards the destiny He chose?

Sometimes, we also suffer on the inside in our secret places. Secrets known only by the sufferers, but whether internal or external, to what end? Death. The life receptive to the flesh has got to go. The only way to abide in Christ is by crucifying the flesh that seeks to hold on to a temporary, decaying world that cannot save itself.

Why go through this death? To awaken and live every second in God, from our position in Christ. It may not seem like much because only a minute number of people are living this way. However, imagine access to divinity, 24/7. I’m in!

Unlike the people mentioned above, Jesus Christ knew what to expect on the other side of his great sacrifice. However, no matter how hard we try, we cannot envision what God has prepared for us. Thank God for the Holy Spirit, who is available to disclose Abba’s plans to us as we walk with Him.

Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table, and Moses became the deliverer. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, the father. In Christ, God elevated us beyond what our minds can reason out, and our eyes can see.