Stepping back

 I watched the interview that Prince Harry gave to James Corden yesterday.  I have to confess to being a fan of both men so a combination of the two on screen for ten minutes was a no brainer for me.   In Jan 2020 I had a prophetic word about Harry and Megan's decision to step away from the UK and the Royal family ( I'll post a link at the bottom for anyone interested. It's not long)  I wondered if God was going to have anything to say as I watched this new interview.  



Harry seemed happy and relaxed.  He was open about his move to L.A and the reason he left ( toxic British Press response to him and Megan and a desire to protect her and Archie from that intrusion, plus concern for his own mental health)  He was clearly intimating that he had a close and loving ongoing relationship with the Queen and Prince Philip.  He was sitting on top of an open topped tourist bus for the first time in his life - ie in the UK that would have been unsafe.   All in all I got the impression that the move for him and his family had been a good one.

But the other side of the coin is that the Queen this week removed all royal patronages from Harry and Megan and there was definitely a sense of ' sour grapes' in their press release response to this.  In addition the Queen put out an important message about everyone getting the vaccine yesterday, which was probably outshone by the Corden/Harry interview.  Its a family, and family life is never all roses.  And this family has to play out some of its business in the public eye.  I feel sorry for all of them.  It must be a nightmare.

So what did God have to say?

I think maybe something about stepping back.   If we take the analogy that Harry represents us - sons of the King, then the Queen represents God.   Harry thought he could step back from full participation in the life of the Queen and the family because it was getting too hard.  He felt the need to protect himself and his family as he clearly didnt feel the Royal Family was able to protect them well enough.  He wanted to keep doing some parts of the job, but do them from a distance well away from the firing line of the press.  It hasn't worked.

Sometimes when things get really tough and the enemy arrows are coming at us thick and fast we question God's ability to keep us safe.  We worry for our safety and our mental health and we perhaps decide that the thing to do is to step back.  Just step away, out of the front line for a little while.  Retreat to a safe distance.   In so doing we remove ourselves from the immediate protection of the King.  Not only that, but we put extra pressure on the rest of the family who now have to take up the positions we have vacated.  God will continue to talk to us , however distant we might be.  He will still love us and send us Christmas presents and have time for us whenever we need Him.  But the bottom line is, with God we are either all or nothing.  He won't tolerate half-heartedness, lukewarmness.  He says we can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom.  Yes, it might be much easier in many ways to leave and go to ' a foreign land'.  But once there we have to live by the rules of that land and we can't enjoy the benefits of our Father's house.

So, I guess whilst I have huge sympathy for Harry and Megan and I really hope they are happy in America with their family, I think they might end up being prodigals who come home with empty pockets and broken spirits years down the line.   Maybe they won't. Perhaps that pushes the prophetic analogy too far.  But we certainly will if we decide to step back from God. 



When the enemy gets vicious because we are sons of the King and we are exhausted and at the end of our rope the answer is not to step away but to run in.  Jesus promised us that we would be targets if we live for Him.  But He also promised He would be with us, providing us with everything we need. Not testing us with more than we can manage.  Loving us with an everlasting love.

Don't step back, step up.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/16eZ7Xx0nKCbU3N-DT5D_ob67ALdMWpr-JwTITeXXk08/edit?usp=sharing

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