Come on all you underdogs!
It has been said that the British love an underdog, and it is certainly true of me. I don’t know if it is a part of our national psyche: being an island people with all the historical challenges (as well as safety) that has given us. But whatever the cause, it seems true. Whether it is the X-Factor or Celebrity Come Dancing (neither of which I watch), we will happily cheer on the less talented and even strategically vote to keep them in the competition just because we like them. In sport, we love to see a determined and plucky team complete a ‘giant killing’ (note the term) act on a more resourced and successful competitor. Perhaps we love the underdog because we can see a clear parallel between the life of the more ordinary competitor and our own.
Well, scriptures and Christian history are awash with ordinary people doing extraordinary things because of what God has done in their lives. It is full of ordinary underdogs facing up to the challenge and making good because they stand with God at their side. So, this week, I want to encourage us all as we approach the glorious sunny month of February, by looking again at the lives of some Biblical people and seeing how they faced situations like ours.
I want to start by taking a look at Abram (later called Abraham):
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.” Genesis 11: 31-32 [NIV]
This is a part of the first reference to Abram in scripture. Now we know the later story of Abram and how he went on to become the great Patriarch of Israel, but look at him here. There is no hint of future greatness, he is simply a footnote. The paragraph is about Terah, his father. Abram is simply named as a part of Terah’s family, his entourage; Abram is almost just a part of the furniture.
Abram would have had few choices in life, stick with dad which equals security, wealth and some respect (due to his position as Terah’s eldest son) or leave dad and lose everything. Abram must have wondered in his darker moments whether he would ever be his own man, whether he would ever feel fulfilled. At this point in Abram’s life he was middle aged, living in his father’s shadow and childless.
Well, Abram didn’t know it, but God had plans, plans that won’t only change his life, they will redefine who he is. Click on the link below for some Monday morning motivation with the Underdogz anthem from 29th Chapter.
John Martin-Jones
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