CONQUERORS

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all". Ecclesiastes 9:11

"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" Galatians 5:7

I read a story a while back in which a huge, overzealous python tried to swallow an alligator. Neither one of the animals survived. We all, at some point, learned about the food chain, the hierarchy among animals, and natural predators and their prey. Whether we learned it in school, or by way of one of those fascinating episodes of Nature, or Wild Kingdom while waiting at jury duty, we know what is supposed to happen when natural enemies get together. One wins, one loses. Certain species are born to conquer, while others spend their lives trying not to become dinner--- and that's just the way it is. Every now and then, however, the script is divinely flipped.

The Bible tells us that we, too, are conquerors--- MORE than conquerors through Christ Jesus. That message alone is enough to make you want to poke your chest out and roar! What happens, though, when we seem to be the conquered--- defeated by things we should have been able to tackle with our eyes closed and one hand tied behind our backs?

Our Christian walk has been likened to a fight, a battle, a journey, a race. This race, however is so different in concept. Thank God! In most conflicts or contests, the stronger, the most fit, the smarter, the better suited, the greater armed, the more technologically advanced, the fastest, or the better trained individuals are supposed to win. They're expected to win. There should be no contest. There's always intense discussion by talking heads when a particular contender suffers a humiliating defeat. There's got to be a reason why the fastest runner breaks the tape at the finish line but is not awarded the prize. There's concern when a favored team begins so well, seems so confident, demonstrates such promise, is backed with so much training, has banked so many hours in practice, but still ends up on the losing side.

I'm always saddened when people of note work to turn their lives around, make extraordinary contributions, and redeem themselves, yet when they die, the news story is apparently not complete unless it includes harping on some old misstep, failure, or loss in their lives. Some losses are devastating, shocking, hard to get over- and even harder to live down. Do we, in our response to, and our attitudes toward defeat, loss or failure, make redemption virtually impossible for ourselves and others?

There was another animal news story a while back about a poor, sheared, buffalo. He was put into a cage with two lions at a zoo. The buffalo was supposed to be dinner, and there were people standing around waiting to witness the slaughter. Every land animal weighing 2.2 pounds and over, are on the lion's menu. In the wild, the lion's speed is critical. The lion has strength, but its endurance isn't that great. Their ability to cloak themselves and stalk their prey, day or night, is amazing. In order to subdue their prey, lions utilize extremely calculating tactics that they practice until it becomes second nature. They watch intently, and plan their attack. Most animals are fortunate if they somehow get away from a lion, and if by chance they do, they probably still need medical or psychiatric attention when the ordeal is over. 
If the animal the lion has decided to eat is not fast, not well, not experienced, or just plain old, it generally doesn't have a chance. If the animal trips, loses its balance, gets cornered, stuck, disoriented, or takes off in the wrong direction, it's all over. The lion will chase the poor animal, drag it down, and strangle it. Where buffalo are concerned, the lion will even stalk an entire herd and hand pick the one it wants! This, however, was no hunt for a meal on the plains of some remote African nation. Capturing a buffalo that was hand delivered to them at the zoo, should have been a piece of cake for the lions I read about, but it wasn't.

The zoo buffalo truly shouldn't have had a prayer. I was watching and feeling sorry for it, until I noticed it was no easy picking! To my surprise, the buffalo was chasing the lions around their own cage! I suppose these natural enemies weren't sure what to make of each other! The lions started out looking as if they knew what to do to subdue the buffalo. The buffalo was probably as shocked as I was when it realized these two lions had no clue what to do! The buffalo seemed to be fighting back, and it left one of the lions shaking in a corner! The other lion ran from the area of the cage altogether and closed the gate behind himself! There would be no massacre that day. The unlikely victor stood there, in the cage of his enemies, unscathed, and probably very relieved. The buffalo withstood the number one threat to his life. It would be more likely to die because of disease, or from parasites than by the jaws and paws of those two lions!
It wasn't supposed to be that way! Was it that the buffalo was so strong, or was it that the lions, who had been in captivity so long, were confused about how the contest was supposed to end? Was it luck on the buffalo's part? Was it grace? Instinctively, the buffalo would run. In this circumstance, the carnivores at the top of the food chain ended up running from, and losing to a buffalo. The news story labeled them cowardly lions. I got a good laugh at their expense and I'm sure the people present at the zoo were baffled, too.
Because of the failure of the lions to do what should have come naturally, any chance of them being returned to the wild was lost. No one at the zoo was confident that they could handle themselves. It had been determined that they would ultimately die if removed from the confines of the zoo. They would probably never be given the opportunity to demonstrate their God-given ability. How could they ever show their faces around their lion friends back home ever again? If the two of them could not subdue, kill, and eat a skinny buffalo that was handed to them in an enclosed cage, on a proverbial silver platter, how on earth would they be able to hunt in the wild? How long would it be before they were being chased by mice or laughed at by hyenas? How embarrassing it must have been for the conquering kings of the beasts.

How do we come back from humiliating defeat? How do we handle the attitudes of others in the face of our own failure? What do we allow our disappointments to do to us? Moreover, how do we handle the losses in battles we thought we were supposed to win? Do we look for logical or seemingly acceptable excuses? Do we run and hide? Do we shun friends, turn off the phone, ignore messages, relocate, and take ourselves out of the game? Do we look at singular failures as the end of our existence, ministries, talents, dreams and hopes? Do we overestimate our ability? Do we underestimate the enemy? Do we fail to realize how our environment, habits, lifestyle, associations and circumstances affect our ability to perform at our maximum ability?
The lions at the zoo had become accustomed to a way of life far different than their contemporaries in the wild. When it was time to demonstrate their strength and innate ability, they were unprepared, out of practice, caught off guard, and they failed. They are now, and forever relegated to being in captivity- only good to be seen, admired, and studied by veterinarians, scientists and visitors to the zoo. I'm sure a few of us wouldn't mind being relatively up close and personal with a lion who has forgotten that he is a lion. The lions will be coddled, cared for, and fed better than most people, but the life they will live won't be natural, and will in no way encourage them to be the lions they were born to be. Before them is a life of continued pampering- but in captivity. For them, the real race is over.

Sometimes we need reminders that even though we face adversity, wilderness periods, tears, loneliness, and defeat, we have the assurance that things will ultimately work out. Fortunately, built into the rules of the Christian race, is the precious opportunity to begin again. To our advantage, the Greatest Judge extends favor, grace and an extraordinary amount of help. Even when we trip, lose our balance, get stuck, disoriented, run in the wrong direction, or get cornered, we have the assurance that no obstacle can ever separate us from God's love. Each new day presents an opportunity to pick ourselves up, wipe the gravel off of our knees, shake ourselves, and run again. Unlike those lions, we don't have to accept the negative pronouncements or ridicule of others, nor should we wear our failures like a ball and chain and allow them to define us, and alter who we are. We have a merciful advocate who wants us to accept His truth. He has declared us free indeed, in spite of our circumstances. Anything set free always faces the possibility of being recaptured. Being captured by a loving God, however, is okay with me. His truth also makes us free, which compels us, and causes us to become, ( not by our own doing), all that he has designed us to be.