Underdog

This post is actually a contribution I made to my church's blog (liveoakroots.com).  You should check it out.  We post about 3 times weekly---scripture reference and thoughts to go with it that make you think and bring the Scripture into your day.

What then shall we say?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  Romans 8:31

Most of us, despite our church background or lack there of, know the story of David and Goliath.  The story in a nutshell: you have a nine foot giant who is a soldier in the Philistine army, taunting the Israelites daily for 40 days.  The giant is daring someone, anyone to come and take him on.  The days pass and no one steps up to the challenge because Saul, the king of Israel and the entire Israelite army are utterly terrified of this guy.  He’s crazy huge, a lifetime warrior, mean as a snake and could squash any given man like a bug.  Then one day, David, the youngest son of Jesse—likely just a young teen at the time, is sent to the front lines by his dad to bring back news of his older brothers.  While there, David hears Goliath mouthing off and long story short, this teenage boy decides to take on the giant, wearing nothing but a tunic and armed only with his shepherd’s staff, a slingshot and bag of stones.  He faces Goliath and says,  ”You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”  You know the rest of the story…David, who for all practical purposes is unarmed, and who is not even developed to his full adult stature takes down the towering giant with a single stone.  A stone that, as God would have it,  hit Goliath just right (or just wrong if you’re Goliath).

To me this account found in 1 Samuel 17, perfectly illustrates Romans 8:31 (What then shall we say?  If God is for us, who can be against us?).  David and Goliath is the classic tale of the underdog.  There is no way David should have prevailed in that battle.  But the unseen hand of God reached down and conquered that giant.  David’s part in the thing?  Simply to believe in the One who was for him and trust that He would come through; and to face his opposition in the name of the Lord.  This story—David’s faith fleshed out—so beautifully shows us, even today, that an underdog is not really an underdog when God is for them. 

I feel like such the underdog myself as I face my daily “Goliaths”:  mounting bills, interpersonal messiness, job stresses, fatigue from the crazy pace our society keeps.  We all  have our Goliaths.  And some of us face things that are more Goliath-y than others…devastating diagnoses, a broken marriage, depression, unemployment, and the list goes on. But the good news is this, whether our giants are 9 or 90 feet tall, we have a God who is for us.  Whether we come armed with nothing or armed with an advanced artillery of the best “weapons” out there, it is ultimately the God who is for us, who is fighting our battles and taking down our giants.  Our part in the thing?  To have faith in Him and to move forward in that faith and in His name.

What giants are you facing today?  Are you going to trust the God who is for you, and know that you may feel like an underdog, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth?