God Loves the Underdog

And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. Judges 8:4

It has been madness in our house the past couple weeks. Watching the NCAA basketball tournament is always something I look forward to. For me it’s the first sign of spring.

Part of the joy of the first round especially is the chance to see an underdog beat one of the big boys. It doesn’t happen too often but when it does, everything in me wants to stand up and cheer. I love seeing the faces of a team who has surprised themselves by what they hoped they could do, but in all reality never really thought was possible. I love watching them run in circles around the court with arms raised and sometimes even tears streaming. I love the underdog.

God loves the underdog too. He whittled Gideon’s army down from 32,000 men all the way to 300. He armed them with trumpets and glass jars, and sent them into battles in which they would face over 100,000 men. It was more than a sixteen seed against a number one. It was impossible. Picking a winner seems like an easy choice in this bracket but (excuse my continued basketball analogies,) Gideon’s team had one amazing center. They were exhausted yet pursuing, and victory was theirs by the hand of God.

Our lies of omission to our spouse, our impatience with our children, our choice of time with our (you fill in this one) rather than time with the Savior, makes us absolute underdogs. Sin makes any victory on our own not only improbable, but impossible. It makes us the lowest seed in the land, and points us in the direction of the locker room marked, “Loser.”

That is what makes our God so great! The victory is even more impressive because in this sin filled world, we see every day what our opponent is capable of. In fact, much of the time it may feel like we are his star players. That Christ would come into this world to die for a sinner like me seems crazy, but he traded his life for mine, and he rose so that some day I too might rise. Our opponent was defeated long ago on a court known as Calvary. This means you can get up right this minute and run in circles around the room with arms raised and tears streaming. Do it. It’s time to celebrate! Our victory has been won!

Heavenly Father,

I praise you for winning the most important victory of my life for me. Help me keep you the center of my family’s life every moment and forgive me when I mess that up. Guide me exhausted yet pursuing to live with you eternally. In Jesus Name, Amen.