Before the Panther Takes the Throne

What do you do when your father sets you up for failure? The movie Black Panther was one of the best superhero stories–with a black man as the lead hero–that I had ever seen. Let me tell you a little bit about it in case you haven’t seen it yet without ruining it for you.  T’Challa (Black Panther) and his father were from the African nation of Wakanda. Sadly, his father died in America after being attacked unexpectedly, so now as the prince of his country, he must now prove he is worthy of becoming the new king. There is one scene that is so powerful for me. According to the Wakanda custom, T’Challa must fight any challenger from the tribes before taking the throne. All decline to challenge but one. After he wins, T’Challa must do a ceremony where he is placed unconscious to face some of his fears and insecurities. In a dream he sees his father and they talk. In this dialogue, T’Challa admits his feelings of weakness and the inability to take his rightful place as the leader of the tribes. He goes on to say that he wished he didn’t have to take on such a roll without his father. The father asks T’Challa a question… “Have I ever failed you?” to which T’Challa answers, “Never. I want to be a good king like you.”

As the movie develops, it is discovered that his father made one wrong decision and this decision would haunt T’Challa for the remainder of the film. His father made one of the worst choices of his life, and now everything that they both worked for was going to be destroyed unnecessarily. The Black Panther is almost brought to his death when his father’s unwise choice comes right to T’Challa’s front door. T’Challa survives the challenge, and in his time of healing, he has another vision with his father. This time the conversation is very different. He asked his father “WHY!!!” He wanted to know why made the secret choices without thinking through the consequence. T’Challa’s father says that his mistake was the truth that he chose to omit. T’Challa could not rest until he corrected the wrong his father had created. He had to make it right. It was many years later after his father’s initial mistake, but T’Challa’s answer to his father’s question changed when the truth was discovered “Have I ever failed you?”, the answer was really, “yes.”

Fathers Who Failed

Most of this week’s study is found in the book of Joshua chapter 5
Has your father ever failed you? Are you failing your children right now? In scripture, there existed a whole nation of T’Challas. They were a generation of fatherless men who were supposed to step into their rightful place of promise but couldn’t because their fathers made a grave mistake that almost cost them their lives. In the books of Exodus-Deuteronomy, we meet a group of men who were enslaved for most of their lives by the Pharaohs of Egypt. For many years they were beaten, battered and abused, until one day God said it was time for them to be set free and brought into a land He had promised their ancestors.

Shortly after God set the nation of Israel free from their Egyptian captors, they turned from helpless, vulnerable, pitiful slaves into murmuring, complaining, unbelieving, disobedient, and ungrateful people.

For this reason look what the Bible says in Joshua 5:6-7
6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place,

Every man (except Joshua and Caleb) that was 21 years and older was forced to stay in the wilderness until they died because God was not going to give unbelieving, disobedient murmurers the new land. For this reason, God gave the land to their children.  Sadly, God has had to do the same thing over and over again. I believe that there are quite a few readers, who have had fathers that couldn’t see past their desires, fears, and insecurities. Maybe it was because of their doubt and disbelief that you never saw them reach for something more. They may have made attempts to claw the walls for more but yet always hit rock bottom. I know this may not be every case, but I’ve seen it many times where people try to go about new adventures and sacrifices, but they do it within their means expecting God to bless their way, but never seeking His approval. So now it’s your turn, what are you going to do?

The Israelite sons were smarter than their fathers. Look at what they told Joshua after he took charge of them after Moses,
16 And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.” Joshua 1:16-18

So, they were inches away from receiving the reward of freedom and possess a land flowing with milk and honey, when God brought up something. They could not possess the land yet. The children of Israel were descendants of Abraham in the book of Genesis. When God appeared to Abraham he promised Abraham that he would give Abraham so many children that they would be like stars in the sky and the sands of the sea. You can click to read the challenge he faced in our Mangled Motherhood series. One of the ways God wanted every father to add their sons to the covenant—almost like a tattoo—was to circumcise them at eight days old. God asked every father who was a descendant of Abraham to circumcise every son they had. (please don’t ask why that was the symbol and not something like an eyebrow piercing. Personally, I would have done something like that, it’s fancier and you can get different ones to go with your outfit…Okay, I went off track). Without the circumcision of a male, they were not considered a part of God’s plan or promise. God demonstrated the danger of this when he almost killed Moses’ sons shortly after Moses experienced the burning bush, Exodus 4:24-25.

Now the children of Israel are about to attack their enemies and take the land God designed for them, but there was one problem look at Joshua 5 verse 5
5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

Two Miles Behind the Starting Line

Sometimes when we are in a place of pain and struggle we hold on to hope more. We are so desperate for that dream, but when we realize what it will take for that dream to come true, we lose that hope and become lazy, unmotivated and fickle in our ways. Israel’s problem was that they lacked the commitment needed to live in their dream so they giving up. The problem with a father that quits, is he essentially giving birth to the next generation in a place of defeat. It’s almost like starting your child two miles behind the starting line for a race and demanding them to win.

These men, essentially reared their children behind the starting line because they felt there was no hope of ever getting to the promise land. So what happens when you are raised in a home of hopelessness? When God shows up and wants to give you what he promises, you must do what your father was not able to.

T’Challa thought the day he sat on the throne he was rightfully king and walked as a king. He did not know that his first fight would be to face a mistake his father made years before. It cost him the loss of childhood friendships and the death of those who were loyal to him. He was 2 miles behind the starting line that he was forced to conquer. Some of us are in the same position but there is a God who loves the heart of fighters. We see the challenge and run towards the mark instead of talking about the disadvantages.

Anyone can read this and not understand what was taking place. The WHOLE NATION of fighting men and children are totally incapacitated, not for a few days…but for 2-3 WEEKS!! That meant that if their enemies found out that they were planning to raid their land, the whole Israelite nation could have been whipped out in one quick swoop. Joshua, his friend Caleb and a small number that were too young to fall under the judgment of God, left the original group that could fight. Maybe about 75% of over 600,000 men, needed to right the wrongs of their fickle fathers.

Will righting the wrongs of your family leave you exposed? Maybe you needed to make peace with an angry family member that wants nothing to do with you because of your parent’s behavior. Maybe you need to fight for financial stability because your father raised you in poverty and made unwise financial choices. It could also be that your father battled with some form of addiction—alcoholism, drugs, sex—and you are now doing everything you can to not fall victim to those things. Maybe you are alone because your father’s lack of obedience as removed him from your life. The struggles could be endless.

My favorite quote in the movie is this, “You cannot let your father’s mistakes determine who you are.” You are the one who is left with the choice, do you want to remain in the wilderness and die with your father, or are you willing to right the wrong and be vulnerable in the hands of God? It is easier to just die in the wilderness—that way you are not required to be any more than you already are—but if you right the wrong, you must learn to trust God in a way that you never witnessed before. This is a trust that leaves you exposed, helpless, and paralyzed.

Weekly Challenge:

Take a moment and think about the wrong must you right and make realistic steps to fix it? Leave a message below to start a conversation or email us for additional help.  Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @throughthewinters.