"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9
Also read 1 Samuel 17 (David & Goliath)
When I was in high school in North Salem, NY, I was on the
basketball team. I was what is known as a "bench warmer", which
if you're not aware, means that you spend a lot of time "riding the
pine", or sitting on the bench at the side of the court to "keep it
warm" for the better skilled players in the game. We were a Class D team
in New York, which is the smallest class, but we were small even by Class D
standards, having a graduating class of only about 60. Even so, the new
athletics director from New York City hired when I was in middle school quickly
built a formidable basketball team, capitalizing on a set of twin brothers from
Lithuania who were closer to seven than six feet tall.
By the time I was on the high school team, however, our tallest players were barely over 6 feet. But we had an outstanding point guard, chemistry, and a coach that knew how to bring the fire out of us (and we knew how to bring the fire out of him - in fact I distinctly recall a heated locker room exchange, when, after several wisecracks from my friend, this coach threatened to put him in the hospital). We had an excellent season in my senior year, and our small school was catapulted into the state tournament. As I recall we won the first one or two games, but then were faced with a team with an All-American player (who would later play Division 1 college ball), and we were (seemingly) faced with more than we could handle. We were all nervous about the game, but the night before the game our coach had our team over for spaghetti dinner and we watched the movie "Hoosiers". If you haven't seen it, it features Gene Hackman as the coach of a small town Indiana high school basketball team that against all odds makes it all the way to and wins the state finals. In the locker room before the climatic final game, the team's local preacher enters the room and simply reads the Bible verse:"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen."
Talk about firing up the competitive spirit! We went on to easily win the game (I even got to play!), and we traveled upstate to the semifinals. Though we lost a heartbreaking next game (to a team with some players later found to be beyond the allowed age limit), it's an experience me and those on my team will never forget.
The story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) is a well known one, a favorite with my boys (for obvious reasons), and may also fire your competitive spirit. There is something to this idea of the underdog: the theme of a hopelessly outmatched person or group of people that has captivated millions and has played out across thousands of movie screens and book plots.
What is it about underdogs that we love? Well, my first thought is, who really wants to root for someone who stands a really, really good chance of winning? (I totally don't get you Yankee fans) But I also think that maybe we see ourselves in the characters, and it stirs our emotions and our sense of justice and triumph of right over wrong.
The Bible contains many underdog stories: for example the story of Gideon comes to mind, who was from the smallest clan of the smallest tribe, leading an army that God made him reduce from 32,000 to 300 soldiers (some of them for the way they drank water (!)). There's also king Jehoshaphat, against whom the Bible says a great multitude came, who were essentially defeated by the worship team! In fact to the nation of Israel itself, God said "I did not choose you because you were more in number than other peoples": in fact the Bible says they were "the least" of all peoples (Deuteronomy 7:7). Yet God chose them and wanted them to succeed. So what is it God also likes about the underdog?
Recently I've noticed a theme in Julia's sermons and now my sermon, and that is: God working through our weakness. In 2 Chronicles 16:9 it says "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him". The reason God constantly gives throughout the Old Testament for why He allows these hopelessly outmatched situations, was that so the Israelites (as well as the surrounding nations) would not think they did it on their own. So, in a nutshell, the reason is that God wants the credit and to manifest His power!
So what does this mean? Is God just this big insecure being who wants to run around getting the credit for everything?
Have you ever worked for a boss that took complete credit for ideas you came up with and work you did? Infuriating, right? As humans sharing the human condition, no matter how humble we seem to be, when it comes down that situation - maybe for example a public speech someone is giving - where someone else getting credit for a good job we did, something inside us just gets twisted in a knot! Swallowing pride is one of the most difficult things as humans to do!
But when we humble ourselves and let God work through our weakness, someone far greater than our boss or ourselves gets the credit. And the reason why He wants the credit is not that He is our heavenly insecure boss. It's so the world might know Him! The testimony of the entire Bible is that God longs for people to turn to Him. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And aside from the witness of the glory of the natural world of creation, we are it as far as how the world will get to know God, folks. That means it's time to start letting God crucify the pride that is so deeply ingrained in us, and let God work through our weakness.
To go back to high school again, I, like some of you maybe, was terrified of public speaking. Mine was a particularly bad case, though: sometimes if even all I had to was say my name and something about myself, I would sweat and panic. One time I remember I even faked a nosebleed to leave the room! When I began lay speaking the old nervousness was still there. But I soon realized something that made me overcome my nervousness: it's not about me. When I realized that being nervous was putting myself between the people I was talking to and God, I was sort of scared straight, so to speak! God was then able to work through my weakness.
So now if one of my classmates were to come and see me speak, they would be amazed, and I would have opportunity to tell them about what God has done for me.
You may say "But I was born with natural talents! You mean to say that God doesn't want these, only my weakness?" Well, not exactly, but we just need to be careful how we use them. Gospel music great Keith Green was an immensely talented pianist, singer, and songwriter poised to become the next Elton John in the 70s, but once God got a hold of him, he laid his music aside, terrified that his natural talent would overwhelm anything God wanted to do through him. Thankfully God gave him the go-ahead, and he wrote some of the greatest modern Christian music we have. But he had to lay it down first.
I wonder if there's anything in our natural strength we need to lay aside, so that we would get out of the way and God would get the glory. Natural talent and organization in a church are certainly good things to have, but in and of themselves they will not turn people to God. Is pride preventing us from letting our weaknesses be exposed? A friend from my old church had a great idea for a ministry name: "Cracked Pot Ministries", taken from 2 Corinthians 4:7 where it says that our treasure is in earthen vessels, that the "excellence of the power may be of God and not of us". Our brokenness, or weakness, is how God is allowed to shine in our lives.
If we don't know how to let God work though our weakness, the
first thing we can do is simply make ourselves unreservedly available to Him,
praying the prayer that John Wesley prayed and we say every New Year: "I
am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom
thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or
laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full,
let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and
heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal." Or to put it another way, "I'm gonna live so God can use me, anytime, anywhere" as we sang this morning.
Our little basketball team all those years ago didn't give God the glory and the opportunity was wasted. Let us let God show Himself strong on our behalf so the world may know Him Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment