He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate. -Psalm 7:15-16 (NASB)
The fictional superhero Iron Man has a very thin but strong suit of armor…but every now and then, a technical malfunction can cause it to pop off in pieces, and not fulfill its intended purpose of protection.
As I keep walking with the Lord (with plenty of stumbles and missteps!), I’m learning to glean useful parallels in popular culture to help with my walk. As I’ve mentioned before, Iron Man is one of them.
It helps me greatly to imagine myself encased in an invisible Iron Man suit, but it’s one I still have to consciously keep on. The second I forget, it disappears. But I learned another way that we can actually sabotage our own Iron Man suits even while they’re on.
If you’re wearing your armor, and it’s doing its job of making you impervious to evils of men and the high pressure circumstances befalling you, you can actually make your own armor self destruct by fighting fire with fire. There’s a temptation to sling arrows back, or to react poorly to being poorly treated, or to lash out because things are going badly. And once you make that conscious choice, your armor is gone.
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is restraint and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), and it is only through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) that we can do that in the face of hatred and extreme tribulation. And take heart if you’ve blown off your armor! because our Lord, the God of Hosts, is still right there with you, ready to help put your armor right back on.
How? To stop going down the disobedient path we’ve taken, confess and repent for it immediately, ask for forgiveness, and suit up once more. God’s grace and gifts and promises to help us endure this life are far greater than anything or anyone we will face!
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