For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. – Psalm 18:29, Amplified Bible

Growing up I was fascinated with comic book heroes. Though I didn’t often read comic books, I watched more than my fair share of the television and movie versions of the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, and Superman, just to name a few. Like a lot of little boys, I would sometimes find something lying around the house that resembled a cape, put it on, and pretend that I could run faster than a speeding bullet and leap tall buildings with a single bound. And, I must confess, one of my favorite boyhood Christmas gifts was my inflatable Incredible Hulk muscle set!

Today the stories of superheroes continue to attract audiences both young and old, arguably in greater numbers than ever before. Sadly, there is a real superhero that is regularly ignored by both secular and Christian society, and that superhero is God. The one true Source of superpowers in the universe is the Creator of the universe, yet we all too often ignore that Source in favor of fantasy.

God not only reserves superpowers for Himself; He sometimes shares them with His people. Has He not at times in history, for example, enabled men to heal the sick, to cure the demon-possessed, and to defeat armies of vaster size and strength? Indeed He has, and perhaps He will choose to again. But, on a more day-to-day level, He gives His people the supernatural power to face adversity of all kinds, and through His supernatural enabling we can conquer the anxiety that accompanies the adversity.

In Matthew 11:28-30, the Amplified Bible reads:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

If we continue to tackle the problems of life with our own yokes on our necks, we will succeed only to the extent that human strength can prevail. But, if we throw off our yokes and replace them with God’s, then the Supernatural takes over, and rest, not anguish, will be the end result.