I like to root for the underdog unless they are playing against one of my favorite teams. There is something about a team or an individual achieving something they shouldn’t be able to do. Like in the movie, “Rudy.” If you have seen it, then you know how emotional it is when he finally achieves his childhood dream of getting to play football for Norte Dame. “Rudy, you’re too small. You’ll never make the team.” It played on late-night TV the other day again. I told myself, “I’m not going to cry this time.” I have seen it probably, 18 times. I cried like a big o baby at the end. Fortunately, April was asleep!

Whenever someone beats the odds.

A famous biblical example is David defeating Goliath. Men who do not know God or his power look at things in the natural. With their eyes, like Goliath did.

The Philistine started walking toward David, with his shield bearer walking in front of him. He kept coming closer, ⁴² and when he got a good look at David, he was filled with scorn for him because he was just a nice, good-looking boy. ⁴³ He said to David, “What’s that stick for? Do you think I’m a dog?” And he called down curses from his god on David. ⁴⁴ “Come on,” he challenged David, “and I will give your body to the birds and animals to eat.”

⁴⁵ David answered, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied. ⁴⁶ This very day the Lord will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. And I will give the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds and animals to eat. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God, ⁴⁷ and everyone here will see that the Lord does not need swords or spears to save his people. He is victorious in battle, and he will put all of you in our power.”

⁴⁸ Goliath started walking toward David again, and David ran quickly toward the Philistine battle line to fight him. ⁴⁹ He reached into his bag and took out a stone, which he slung at Goliath. It hit him on the forehead and broke his skull, and Goliath fell face downward on the ground. ⁵⁰ And so, without a sword, David defeated and killed Goliath with a sling and a stone! ⁵¹ He ran to him, stood over him, took Goliath’s sword out of its sheath, and cut off his head and killed him. (1 Sam. 17: 41-52  GNT)  David knew what God could do with a willing servant!

Men are not the only ones who will try to tell you there is no hope in trying. To give up. To sit down and be quiet. The devil will do all he can to convince you of the same. Someone who believes doesn’t stop, doesn’t quit, or gives up. They keep going until the impossible is accomplished.

The underdog becomes an unstoppable force as one believer under God.

If you find yourself in an impossible-seeming situation, recall what God has done with you and for you in the past or read what God did with others in the Bible. God never runs out of power, and He never changes. I think God likes to say, “Oh really? Huh. Watch this.” So don’t listen to anyone else but God. When He asks you to do something, know that He will be with you, empowering you to do His will.

Copyright © 2022 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.