How to Win as the Underdog

One of the most famous kings, the Hebrew King David, was known for being one of biggest underdogs of all time. Before he was king, he was a shepherd boy, the youngest and least of all his seven brothers. But going from rags to richest did not make David proud, but instead, more aware of his need for God. In fact, he relied on God so much, he constantly said his strength actually belonged to God. In Psalm 18:1 he says “I love you, O Lord, you are my strength.”

Earlier in the Psalms, he wrote how those who follow the Lord’s teachings are like strong trees, producing fruit in each season. He wrote how everything these people (those who trust God) do succeeds (Psalm 1:2-3). How wonderful would it be to succeed in everything we did, even if we were the “underdog”? Clearly, we all understand that we cannot succeed by human standards in everything on earth. However, with God as our ultimate source of strength, we can be like a steady oak, rooted in God’s omnipotence. When we live our lives out of His abilities, not ours, that makes us successful because we are living connected to the ultimate source of everything.

With God as our source, we can be like trees, which withstand winds, hail and snow, but do not move from their roots. Our nutrients are found in Him, and it’s where steadfast power comes from. The beauty of this is that God has an open initiation to that source, to each of us, all day and everyday. Even when we feel we are in the worst situations, we can come out on top when we recognize Whose we are. He wants us to lean into His strength during all our moments, gleaning his love from all our moments.

Questions I’m thinking about and would love for you to join me:

Let’s think of an area of our lives where we feel weak. We can bring this area to God and ask Him to bring His strength to that issue for us. How does knowing that He wants to give His strength to us change our perspective of the situation?