Invincible

Everyone loves a good superhero story.

Batman, Spiderman, Iron man, Superman…the list goes on and on.  We are drawn to the idea that no matter what circumstances someone faces, they can always rise above them.  They can live a life that is INVINCIBLE.  We all would love to think that we could accomplish the same in our lives - that we can be invincible.

The truth is that we are not.

None of us are invincible.  We all have weakness.  We all have flaws, cracks and failures.  Some people understand this…some don’t.

In Judges we read about someone who had all the characteristics of a superhero: Samson.  he had the strength, the hair…maybe even the tights.  The challenge that Samson had is he began to believe that he was invincible.  But he wasn’t.

We can learn a lot from his life.  Samson, though he was strong, had areas of weakness.  In Judges 14:1-9 we see some interesting things that we should consider about Samson:

He began to desire what he was called to destroy

Samson, in Judges 13:5, was called by God to deliver his people from the control of the Philistines.  Instead, he decided to marry one.

He turned off the path

In Judges 14 we see Samson attacked by a lion and rip it apart with his bare hands.  Impressive.  Later on, however, it says that Samson “turned off the path” to go check the lion out.  This doesn’t seem like too big of a deal until you understand the call of a Nazirite that was on his life.  He wasn’t allowed to go near dead bodies.  Things don’t usually turn out great when we decided to “turn off the path” in life.

He lived in secrecy

Samson kept things secret.  The problem with this is that it began to create a pattern in his life.  The scary thing for him and us - nothing seemed to happen right away.  He still had his strength.  He was still being used to do great things.  But the patterns that he was creating were leading him to a scary place in life.  Soon he would become so numb that in Judges 16 it says that Samson got up as before, but didn’t realize the spirit of God had left him.

We all have areas of weakness.

But here is the good news.  If I have Jesus, I have all the strength I need!

Consider Paul’s words in Romans 7:15, 21-25:

I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Though I may not be invincible, the answer is in Jesus!  I may have weakness, but the answer is in Jesus.  He has the strength that each of us need!  Rest in that fact today!