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Taking the question of the Achilles heel further, I should ask it about my marriage? Is there a specific aspect of my relationship with my wife that our enemy could exploit to his advantage and our damage?
I am far enough along life's pathway to know that all marriages pass through seasons and experiences that really test the strength and viability of that relationship. There are times when the sense of intimacy can diminish, romance struggles to influence the relationship thus producing an Achilles Heel for that couple. They can become vulnerable to the temptation of wondering if the loss of intimacy and/or romance might be recovered in another relationship.
Financial pressures might expose an Achilles Heel. The upward pressure on the monthly mortgage repayment sees that figure go way beyond anything for which the couple had budgeted. How can they possibly manage? Will one of them have to get a second job? Who will that be? And so the tension rises maybe exposing some attitudes and unmet expectations that have never been expressed. Until now. Words are now exchanged that were never part of the relationship. Until now. An Achilles Heel has been exposed and the enemy of our souls has got it in his cross-hairs.
Sickness, disability and a general decline in health has the capacity to expose weakness in the fortifications of an otherwise healthy marriage. The husband is suddenly struck down with a stroke. One of the children is diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer. Any or all of these has the potential to zero in on a point of weakness. It all gets too hard. One or other partners in the relationship is overwhelmed by all that has happened and simply walks away.
But the most relevant application is when I ask the question of myself. What is my Achilles heel? Where am I most vulnerable? Obviously I can't answer that question for others although I have had numerous people over the years of my pastoral ministry who have acknowledged to me what they believed to be their Achilles' heel. Much of what I have written reflects those conversations.
What I do know is that none of us are exempt from those infirmities and weaknesses that make us vulnerable. What this means is that we must seek to identify that which is our "Achilles Heel" and move reinforcements to those points lest Satan gain an advantage over us.
