Don’t you love it when an underdog turns the tables?

We’ve all cheered at movies in which the little guy triumphs over impossible odds and wins the day.

Part of what makes these stories attractive is the confidence the underdog displays in the face of adverse circumstances. He or she often thinks that it’s the other guy who’s at a disadvantage.

I’m reminded of a classic headline from a British newspaper, possibly from the early 1930s (and possibly apocryphal). The English Channel was blanketed with thick fog, making ship travel dangerous. The witty headline read:

“Fog in Channel: Continent Isolated.”

What makes this funny is that surely it was the island of Great Britain that was isolated by the dense fog, not Continental Europe!

You’ve got to admire this type of self-assurance.

I think this the type of attitude God wants us to display, but to focus it on faith and trust in Him. He wants us to believe that with Him on our side, the one who comes against is the one who’s isolated and on the ropes.

Consider the story of David and Goliath in the Bible…

Goliath was the Philistine army’s champion, standing 9 feet tall. He was heavily armed and protected, wearing a coat of mail that itself weighed 125 pounds. He had been taunting and threatening the Israelites for 40 days to send a soldier to fight him one-on-one, but no one had the courage to do so. King Saul and his army were left cowering in fear.

But then David arrived on the scene. This young shepherd boy said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17)

To Goliath he said, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

David was unable to wear Saul’s armour, so he went mano-a-mano against Goliath armed with nothing but a slingshot and some stones. David was clearly at an overwhelming disadvantage militarily, but he didn’t see it that way. He saw with the eyes of faith that God was about to give him the victory.

I can see the headline now: “Shepherd boy David arrives at Valley of Elah: Goliath and Philistine army isolated.”

We could paint a similar scene with Gideon. God had him reduce his army down to 300 men, a seemingly foolhardy course of action against the vastly superior army of Midian. But once again God was about to hand the victory to the underdog (Judges 7).

The headline might have read: “Gideon and his 300 soldiers surround enemy camp: Midianite army of 135,000 isolated.”

Or how about the prophet Elisha and his servant Gehazi? The King of Aram sent a great army to capture his foe Elisha at Dothan. Gehazi woke up one morning to find the city surrounded, with troops, horses and chariots everywhere. Gehazi panicked, but Elisha knew that with God on their side, they had the upper hand.

“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”

Elisha prayed that God would open the spiritual eyes of his servant so he could see what the true odds really were (2 Kings 6).

“The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”

The headline? “Prophet and servant tracked down in Dothan: entire Aramean army isolated.”

I hope these Biblical accounts have given you faith that God can equip, protect, and give the victory to His servants, even against unfavourable odds.

You’re never really an underdog with God at your side!

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

ephesians 3:20-21

© 2024 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.