The Power of Rest Before the Battle
Even warriors need to pause—strength is found in moments of stillness before the fight ahead.
In every hero’s journey, there comes a moment when exhaustion sets in. The battle has been long, the struggles relentless, and even the strongest warriors need a moment to pause and regain their strength.
T’Challa, the Black Panther, experienced this firsthand when he was defeated by Killmonger.
Stripped of his title, cast down, and left for dead. Yet, it was in his lowest moment that he found renewed purpose.
Like T’Challa, we, too, must recognize the power of rest and reflection before we rise again, stronger than before.
In my previous blog post, I recently wrote about how we must take the time to honor and appreciate our mothers on Mother’s Day, we took this moment to pause, breathe, and reflect. This wasn’t a step back, it was a necessary pause to refuel for what’s ahead.
In faith, in life, and in our personal battles, rest is not retreat. It is preparation.
T’Challa’s journey in Black Panther mirrors our own spiritual growth. When faced with loss and uncertainty, his mother and sister helped him enter the ancestral plane, where he confronted the truth about his past. He discovered that true strength comes not just from power, but from wisdom, humility, and the courage to correct past mistakes.
It was in his moment of reflection that his faith was reforged.
As we push forward in our Lent journey, this is OUR turning point. We have endured the first battles, and now, after being strengthened by rest, we are ready for the road ahead. The challenge remains, but we are no longer the same as when we started.
The hero within us has been renewed.
The words T’Challa says I feel reflect the tone for his blog post. “I never freeze.”
Rest is not a sign of weakness but a strategic pause before the next battle. Just as warriors must sharpen their blades before heading into war, we too must take moments to recharge.
The Fall of the Hero: When Everything Seems Lost
T’Challa’s journey as king starts with confidence, but that confidence is shattered when he faces Erik Killmonger, a man with a rightful claim to the throne. Because of the laws of Wakanda and that they are blood relatives, he has to accept a ritual fight from him.
Killmonger enters the fight with malice, demonstrating his hubris by boasting about his accomplishments and demonstrating his fighting prowess which gives T’Challa a big challenge.
The end result of the duel is that Killmonger defeats T’Challa, stripping him of his title and nearly his life. Thrown over into the crevice below, he is presumed dead. As the victor, he takes the power of the Black Panther for his own and has the other heart shaped herbs burned to stop others from taking that power.
Lost in the darkness, searching for light—this is the turning point of every hero’s journey.
This is a pattern we see throughout history. Even the greatest leaders have faced moments of utter defeat before stepping into their true calling. Take Moses, for example. Once a prince of Egypt, raised in the house of Pharaoh, he was destined for greatness. Yet, a single act—defending a fellow Hebrew—sent his entire life into a downward spiral. Forced to flee into the wilderness, Moses lost everything he once knew. Like T’Challa, he went from power to exile in an instant.
But exile was not the end. In the wilderness, God was preparing him for something far greater. It was in that season of isolation and seeming failure that Moses was transformed—from a runaway into a deliverer.
Defeat is never the end of the story, it is the moment before refinement. Just as Moses would later return to Egypt with divine purpose, so too would T’Challa rise from exile, reforged by the trials he endured.
Perhaps like both Moses and T’Challa, you are feeling lost, like every effort you have been putting in has been a lost cause. You can’t see the way forward or the way out. You feel that this is the end of your story.
But 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 reminds us: “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
No matter how bad things look. Our story is not over until God says it’s over and it ends with you victorious. In that moment of loss, youa re being prepared for something greater.
Even when you feel knocked down, you won’t stay down.
T’Challa had every reason to believe his journey was over. His title was gone. His power was stripped away. His people had moved on without him. But sometimes, the lowest moments become the catalysts for transformation. Sometimes, when all seems lost, we are being prepared for something greater.
The Reforging: Strengthened by Rest and Reflection
Faith reforged through fire—each strike makes us stronger.
While T’Challa was physically defeated, he was not beyond restoration. Rescued by the Jabari tribe, he was taken to their lair, his body broken, his spirit hovering on the edge of oblivion.
His mother and sister, driven by love and desperation, helped him drink the heart-shaped herb, one final hope to bring him back. As the sacred substance coursed through his veins, his consciousness was drawn once more to the ancestral plane.
But this time, the reunion was not one of comfort.
T’Challa confronted the spirit of his father, T’Chaka, in a moment not of joy but of anguish.
The truth had been laid bare.
His father’s past mistakes, the abandonment of Killmonger, and the decision of generations of Black Panthers to remain hidden rather than extend their power to aid those in need.
These revelations shattered T’Challa’s perception of Wakanda’s greatness. The weight of the past pressed upon him, the burden of ancestral decisions now his to bear.
“You were wrong! All of you were wrong!”
His voice laced with sorrow and righteous anger. This was more than just confronting the failures of his father; it was the reckoning of an entire lineage that had chosen silence over action.
Wakanda’s isolation had left wounds, and those wounds had festered, birthing an enemy from within.
It is here that his father’s previous words return to him:
“A man who has not prepared his children for his own death has failed as a father.”
These words remind T’Challa that true leadership is not about maintaining traditions for the sake of the past, it is about shaping the future. He is being reforged, not just as a king, but as a man with a mission greater than himself.
He could not merely maintain tradition for tradition’s sake; he had to forge a new path, one that broke from the mistakes of his ancestors and ushered Wakanda into a new era.
This moment of realization mirrors the story of Moses.
After fleeing Egypt and spending years in the wilderness, he, too, was reforged, not in a palace, but in solitude.
When God called to him from the burning bush, it was not a call to comfort but a command to return and set right what had been broken. God had heard the cries of His people, and now Moses had to rise to lead them to freedom.
The years in exile were not wasted; they were preparation. Like T’Challa, Moses had to recognize that his past did not define his future, it refined him for what was to come.
Consider your own journey.
Have you ever faced a moment where everything seemed to crumble, leaving you questioning the path ahead? Have you ever felt the weight of expectations, of past mistakes, whether your own or those before you?
You are not alone in this. Just as T’Challa was called to rise beyond the failures of his ancestors, and just as Moses was called from the wilderness, you too are being shaped in this season of refinement.
Isaiah 43:18-19 says: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
The time IS coming to rise once more. But before you do, embrace this moment. Let it refine you. Let it prepare you. Because when you return, you will NOT be the same, you WILL be stronger.
T’Challa had been tested, stripped of everything, and forced to confront the painful truths of his lineage. But now, he was no longer merely the son of a king, he was the king Wakanda needed.
Strengthened by rest, refined by reflection, and emboldened by a renewed sense of purpose, he was ready to rise once more. The time for waiting was over. The time for action had come.
The Return: Empowered to Continue
You are stronger than before—reforged, renewed, and ready for what lies ahead.
After regaining his strength, his armour, and a renewed sense of purpose, T’Challa returns to Wakanda. He returns not just to reclaim his throne, but he goes to correct the mistakes of his ancestors before him.
He is no longer fighting merely for himself; he fights for the future of his people.
His moment confronting his father in the ancestral plan didn’t weaken him, it made him wiser. It stripped away illusions and revealed the path forward.
He now understands that for Wakanda to truly thrive, it can no longer remain hidden. It must step into the light.
His rest and reflection did not make him complacent; they invigorated him.
Stepping into the battleground with unwavering determination, he announces his return with the words: “As you can see, I am not dead!”
His time of defeat and stillness has transformed him, and now, he is stronger than ever. The fire within him burns with renewed intensity.
A brutal battle ensues. Blow after blow, he fights not only for his throne but for the soul of Wakanda.
Eventually, Killmonger is defeated, his global revolution halted.
Yet, even in his final moments, when T’Challa offers him a chance to be healed, to be part of the Wakandan family he never knew, Killmonger refuses.
He chooses death, removing the blade from his body. His last sight is a Wakandan sunrise, the beauty of the homeland he never truly belonged to. His last moment is spent beside his cousin, T’Challa.
Across time, another leader returns. Moses, after his encounter with God at the burning bush, goes back to Egypt, not for vengeance, but to set his people free.
This path, however was far from easy.
Pharaoh’s heart is hardened as plague after plague ravages Egypt. Yet, Moses stands firm. He does not waver. He does not retreat. He moves forward, fuelled by the call upon his life.
Only after the final plague, the death of Egypt’s firstborn, does Pharaoh finally relent. The Israelites depart, not as weary refugees, but as a people walking in the favour of God, carrying silver, gold, and the wealth of Egypt with them.
Like T’Challa and Moses, we, too, have walked through our own wilderness. We have had moments of rest, reflection, and refinement. But now, the time has come to rise.
Isaiah 40:31 reminds us: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
We move forward, not just with renewed strength, but with a deeper understanding of who we are and what we are called to do.
Our setbacks do not define us. What defines us is how we rise again. Rest is not an excuse to quit, it is the fuel that allows us to stand back up, stronger than before.
T’Challa’s return was not the end of his story, it was the beginning of a new era for Wakanda. He emerged from defeat stronger, wiser, and ready to shape the future. His journey was not just about reclaiming a throne but redefining what it meant to lead.
Moses, too, did not stop after leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The wilderness awaited, filled with trials that would test their faith and endurance. But through it all, God was with them, guiding them toward the Promised Land.
And so it is with us. Our battles may not be over, and our journeys may not be complete, but we move forward—not alone, not without purpose, but with a renewed strength and a greater understanding of who we are meant to be.
Conclusion: The Journey Is Not Over Yet…
T’Challa didn’t just reclaim his throne; he changed Wakanda’s future. His journey led him to a pivotal moment, one where he would step beyond tradition, open Wakanda’s doors, and lead with faith into the unknown.
In the final moments of Black Panther, T’Challa arrives at the United Nations, ready to reveal Wakanda’s truth and share its resources with the world. He had been reforged, not just as a king but as a leader with a new vision.
Moses’ journey didn’t end when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. After God parted the Red Sea, he had to guide his people through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments. Even then, his mission was far from over.
Neither of their journeys concluded at the moment of triumph. There was still more to do.
And so it is with us.
We have been reforged through trials, through rest, through reflection. We are not the same as we once were. But the journey isn’t over. A final challenge awaits.
Are you ready?
Every road leads somewhere—the journey isn’t over yet.
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