Mufasa: “Simba.”
Simba: “Father?”
Mufasa: “Simba, you have forgotten me.”
Simba: “No! How could I?”
Mufasa: “You have forgotten who you are and so, forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life.”
Simba: “How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.”
Mufasa: “Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true King. Remember who you are.
Remember.
Remember.
Remember.”
‘A rare constant’
Let anyone try and tell me Disney is for kids.
Welllll, it is, yes. Except, it isn’t.
I loved Disney as a child, and I love it even more as an adult.
I’m that girl who really does think Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. Some of my most precious childhood memories are of Disneyland Paris with my brothers and cousins. I vividly remember the sinking feeling of dread at the thought of ever having to leave (and the tears).
There’s something so special about it all that’s difficult to put into words.
I love Disney and I love film. So, naturally, I’m partial to a Disney film or two to put it lightly; particularly an animated feature, and more specifically, anything that came out during the Disney Renaissance.
No one:
Absolutely no one:
Me: “The Lion King is my favourite film of all time. The original, that is, not the weird ‘live action’ one.”
Yes. The Lion King (1994) is my favourite film. It’s not exactly an obscure choice; it’s one everyone either loves or has never seen, there’s no in between (a bit like Star Wars).
So, why is it my favourite film?
Well, apart from the fact that it’s EPIC, there are many reasons.
One being that I watched it every day for the better part of a year when we moved house at the age of 8. Before there was ever any furniture in the living room, there was a chunky TV, a video cassette player, and about 5 films on VHS.
You’d be right to wonder why I didn’t get sick of it. Perhaps it was a rare constant in a time of prevailing change. All I knew was, it was my favourite thing in the whole world and I could recite every word.
My heart would drop into my stomach at the mere sight of a wildebeest, every time. My 8-year-old self knew that this story would stay with me forever, but probably didn’t really understand why.
Goodness, there is so much I could say about why I love this film. But I just want to focus on one of the themes that has stood out to me the most over the years— ‘identity.’
‘Voluntary exile’
The story of The Lion King is loosely based on the Biblical stories of Joseph and Moses, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
“Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”
“Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.
“The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight. The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.”
Exodus 2:10-15
Moses ran away from the Egyptian palace and his princely title, into voluntary exile, because he killed a man. Simba ran away from Pride Rock and his princely title, into voluntary exile, because he thought he had killed his own father.
The moment Mufasa died, Simba became King. But the fear and shame of believing that he was responsible for his father’s death drove him into a life of anonymity.
What Simba did not realise was that surviving on insects in the wilderness with only a meerkat and a warthog as company, living free of all worry or duty— didn’t make him any less King.
‘Abba’
“To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’”
Luke 15:11-19
The prodigal son thought that his only chance of being received was to beg for a role as a servant in the house of his father. He didn’t understand that his identity as ‘son’ could not be erased by his unwise decision-making.
His father not only welcomed him home with open arms, but ran to him— moved by the kind of affection and relief to which I’m sure any parent could begin to relate. He didn’t see his son’s mistakes; he only saw his son.
In the same way, despite my many mess ups, my Heavenly Father does not demote me to servant but still calls me daughter. When I turn away from my lesser way of living and make my way back to him, He sees me from afar off. Filled with agape-driven mercy and compassion, He runs to greet me with an embrace. That’s who He is; Love. This Love is active, not passive; It comes out to meet us. This Love saw Jesus Christ nailed to a cross to purify a bride for Himself. This Love is everything 1 Corinthians 13 says It is. And with this same Love does He love me, His child.
“And because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Galatians 4:6-7
Abba. Words evade me to express the profound intimacy that this term entails, revealing the kind of relationship that the Father desires to have with His children. So much so that He gave us His own Spirit to help us understand.
This isn’t a temporary arrangement. Once His child, always His child.
The single saddest thing about Simba’s story for me, is that he ran away from his identity, his responsibility, his calling, his home, his family, his destiny… all because of a literal lie.
The lie that he killed Mufasa, and the subsequent lie that he was therefore no longer worthy to be called his son.
The same method the enemy has always used and is still using. Deceit. Half-truths. Fallacies. Lies we find ourselves subscribing to time and time again.
“…When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
from John 8:44
“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
Will we believe the truth or the lie?
‘Remember who you are’
The issue of identity isn’t just about improving our self-view. The course of our lives— which in turn has the potential to impact an unlimited number of others— depends on it.
It seemed to be an ordinary day, when an anonymous shepherd led his flock deep into the wilderness. The shepherd came upon a mountain, where something unusual caught his attention. There stood a bush, blazing with fire, yet refusing to be burnt up within the flames. As he marvelled, and drew closer, a voice thundered from the midst of the sight:
“Moses! Moses!”
Recognising his own name, he replied, “Here I am!”
But as the voice— belonging to the Lord— began to reveal His plans to use Moses to deliver the Hebrews from the hands of the Egyptians into their very own land— which would, of course, involve Moses going back to Egypt (!)— he asked an interesting question:
“Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”
from Exodus 3:11
Who am I?
Moses knew his name, but he didn’t know who he was.
The Lord’s response to this— and to the string of other doubt-infused questions that followed from Moses— brings it back to what it’s all about:
“I will be with you.”
“I Am Who I Am.”
“Yahweh… This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.”
“Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
from Exodus 3-4
God brought it back to Himself, and who He is. Knowing who God is, is the only way to begin to grasp our identity. We are because He is.
My mind wanders back to Mufasa’s profound words, which still reverberate through me after all these years:
“You have forgotten who you are and so, forgotten me.”
Simba did not realise that his identity as son and King was embedded in who his father was, something that could never change.
So when he lamented to Mufasa in response, proclaiming, “I’m not who I used to be”— the late King did not even entertain his son’s use of the past tense. He didn’t respond with, “Yes, you are who you used to be.” No, that wouldn’t even make sense.
He simply replied:
“Remember who you ARE.”
Who you’ve always been.
The problem was not that his identity had changed, but that he had forgotten it.
Mufasa did not stop there. He was specific:
“You are my son and the one true King,” affirming Simba firstly as child, and then as heir. Sound familiar? See Galatians 4:7 again.
‘Royalty’
Like Simba, if you are a child of God, you haven’t stopped being who you are just because your past has made you forget. Your Heavenly Father knows this, and He longs for you to know it too. There are assignments that He has called us to, and we cannot afford to use the “Who am I?” excuse to resist His extraordinary plans any longer. There are people counting on us to be delivered from their Egypt into the Kingdom of light.
After his encounter with the Lord, I doubt Moses felt better about himself right away. I doubt he felt very sure of himself or of what he could do. But you know what? He must have believed who God was and what He could do, because he went. Yes, he went back to Egypt. And in going, and experiencing that the Lord was truly with him, he found out what kind of man he really was; the kind that Yahweh could use to make water disobey physics.
When Simba finally remembered who he was, he too might not have instantly felt better about himself. But he didn’t stay where he was. He was filled with a deep, inescapable sense of responsibility. He got up, and he went. Yes, he went back to Pride Rock. He faced his enemy head on, he took his rightful place as King and restored order to the Kingdom.
Where do you need to go back to?
Beloved,
You’ve never stopped being His child.
You’ve never stopped being His heir.
You’ve never stopped being royalty.
Remember who you are.
Remember.
Remember.
Remember.
All my love,
Xtine