Romans 8:31
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Underdogs. America is fascinated with them, and Sunday night proved to be no different as a record number of people tuned in to watch David try to once again take down Goliath. At least that was the way the networks billed it, and they should have. They know that got more of us to watch. All of us can relate to underdogs, and very few of us can relate to giants.
Of course, most of us have read about David and Goliath and we’re quick to bill any “underdog vs. favorite” match-up as a modern replay of the age-old fight, but there is one major difference: most underdogs are trying to prove that they’re as good as they always thought they were, but David – and those of us who have thrown ourselves 100% on the grace and mercy of Jesus’ saving act on the cross – was never trying to prove to Goliath that he was as good as the giant. He was only trying to prove that God was bigger than the giant and could use a little guy like David to defeat him.
We live in a culture where people resonate with the underdog role for all the wrong reasons. We feel cheated, rejected, left out, beaten down. We’re angry, hurt, depressed. We live with a chip on our shoulders and we’re out to prove something to all the people who have overlooked us. We’re the middle-aged girl trying to prove that all the guys who wouldn’t ask her out in high school were wrong.
Jesus never called us to that. He called us to be who we were made to be – the over matched underdog who can never win unless He steps in and fights the battle through us. The outcome is the same, but the glory goes 2 different places.
After the upset, modern-day, “mad-at-the-world” underdogs are quick to point out that no one believed in them except themselves. Biblical underdogs are quick to point out, like David did in 1 Samuel 17:47, that the battle is the Lord’s, and therefore, so is the glory. As Paul said, it is more important Who is for us than who we’re fighting.
So, the Giants won when no one believed they could (except me and here’s the blog entry to prove it), and today they have their glory. Now, I want the giants around me to lose so that forever God will have His.
Run to the battle, underdogs. Run.