Articles
Underdogs
For the non-golf fans out there, let me explain. In the latest PGA Championship, one of four “major” (prestigious, significant) tournaments in the professional golf world, the main story was not the winner but a golfer who finished tied for 15th place. Why so? Because he was not a “tour professional,” someone who plays week in and week out on the regular pro tour but instead provides golf instruction for a living.
At 46, past his golfing prime and not used to the high-pressure and staggering financial stakes of tournament golf, Michael Block went toe to toe with the best players in the world and did remarkably well. He even made a hole-in-one on the last day of the tournament. The crowd went berserk over a guy no one had ever heard of before. It was a heartwarming, inspirational story, and CBS hyped it to the max.
Which raises the question: Why do we so often pull for the underdog? What is it about the underfunded, under-experienced, under-publicized “everyman” that makes us root for him to win over those more gifted and successful?
Perhaps such stories resonate with our own feelings of inadequacy or insecurity. We often see ourselves as overmatched, intimidated by those whom we think are our betters. So when we see the “average Joe” do well and compete above his actual skill level, we can identify with him and vicariously experience what we will not likely achieve in life.
We also like to see people rewarded for their dedication and hard work who are perhaps not as naturally talented as others. When we see them excel in a later season of life, or overcome a physical debilitation, or soldier on despite a lack of success, we are heartened by the tenacity and resilience of the human spirit. We are, again, inspired.
Or it may be that in some cases the underdog has right on his side, and he stands against forces of evil which always seem to be in abundance in this sin-saturated world (think Ukraine, or Britain in WW2). We love to see the underdog win because through him goodness itself gains the victory.
This last point moves us closer to the purpose of this article: In speaking of underdogs, are we not pulling on a significant thread of the Bible story? Is it not true that God’s servants were almost always the underdogs as they undertook to do His will? The examples are legion, but here are a few:
David and Goliath. This is the quintessential example because it is even ensconced in the vernacular of our irreligious society. Nearly everyone understands a David/Goliath analogy. David was outmatched by Goliath in size (1 Sam 17:4), armament (17:5-7) and combat experience (17:33). Further, David was surrounded by faithless Israelite cowards who quailed before the Philistine giant, and his own brother ridiculed him for coming to the battlefield (17:28).
But as we know, David had the “silver bullet” that neutralized all of Goliath’s advantages – faith in God: “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine … I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you … that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands” (17:37, 45-47). Don’t we all want to be a David?!
Moses and Pharaoh. We tend to poke Moses a bit over his initial hesitation to accept God’s assignment (Ex 3-4), but stop and think about the odds he was facing. Egypt was likely the most powerful nation on earth; Israel was its slave labor. Moses was a upstart insurrectionist who fled the country forty years earlier. He had no standing among Israel and probably had been long forgotten by them. How in the world is one man supposed to waltz back into the country where he had been Public Enemy #1 and talk Pharaoh into releasing his massive work force? Moses was a bigger underdog than David ever thought about being.
But Moses finally understood where his strength lay: “Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness”’” (Ex 5:1). However, Moses becomes despondent after his initial rebuff by Pharaoh: “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name; he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people …” (5:22-23).
But God reassures Moses four times with the words, “I am the Lord” (Ex 6:2-8). He reminds Moses of the Abrahamic covenant (6:3-4); He reiterates His promise to bring Israel out of captivity (6:5-6); He vows to take them as His people (6:7); and He pledges to bring them into the land of Canaan (6:8). From this point forward Moses doesn’t flinch before the great power of Pharaoh and the might of the Egyptian army.
Peter/John and the Sanhedrin. What makes this confrontation more remarkable (Acts 4) is that it occurs only a short time after Jesus has been crucified. The Jewish leaders are not to be underestimated; they are politically savvy, resolute, influential and hateful toward anything related to Jesus of Nazareth. They successfully manipulated Pilate into executing Jesus. And now these “uneducated and untrained men” (4:13), these disciples of Jesus, are threatening their powerbase. Worse, they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus right under their noses and making converts by the thousands (4:4). Clearly, Peter and John are up against a most formidable enemy. But after injunctions against their preaching, Peter and John respond with equal resolve: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (4:20).
God’s people are always the underdogs in the sense of being the godly minority in a sea of wickedness, sailing against the prevailing winds of humanistic values, goals and attitudes. We are underdogs in comparison to the vast political bureaucracies and carnal enticements of denominational “Christianity.” But, as Elisha said to his servant of the angelic hosts sur-rounding them, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kgs 6:16). If we’re on God’s side, being an underdog is merely an illusion.
