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#INSUFFICIENT, Part 2: The underdog.


I think we all experience those moments when we feel like a big fat fraud (not intending to allude to my weight struggles, here, honestly). Those moments when you turn around from your accomplishments and accolades to face your fears and failures, and there you are--just a girl. Nobody special. The underdog.

Long before King David was king, he was a ruddy little forgotten youngest brother. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, you can find an account of the day when the illustrious prophet arrived at Jesse's house to anoint the next king. One by one, Jesse proudly lined up his big, strong, handsome sons--educated, accomplished, well-trained for battle...if they had been sons in this day and age, the proud dad would have certainly had racks and racks of towering, gleaming trophies lining the walls of his man cave--scores of monuments to the big strapping boys' accomplishments. One by one, the prophet Samuel looked them over. One by one, he declared, "No, this is not the one." I can imagine the disappointment, the puffed out chests deflated, the millennial-esque groans, the smiles fading. Last and least, Jesse's youngest son was beckoned in from the backyard where he was tending the sheep and playing his harp. "Oh, geez," his brothers probably rolled their eyes. "He's writing another psalm again..." 

In walks David, a ruddy, skinny little musician, the oddball of the family, with his leather bracelets and skinny jeans (not really, but you get the idea). Standing there in the shadows of his towering big bros and all their gleaming trophies, he looked like the one to be voted least likely to succeed to...but the prophet's eyes lit up. "He's the one!" exclaimed Samuel. Little David was the one!

It makes me think of another beloved story--Cinderella, at that moment when her gloriously dressed, highly-pedigreed, blue-blooded stepsisters were unable to force either of their fates into grandeur by forcing their feet into a glass slipper that obviously was not their own. How mortified they were to see that slipper so easily slide onto their peasant sister's foot. She was the one!

At some point, David would prove his suitability as a warrior king by conquering a giant enemy soldier no one else dared to approach, knocking him flat with a sling and a stone. And that was just the beginning of his glory days.

1 Samuel 16:7 says "God does not see things the way we see them. People judge by appearance, but God looks at the heart."

People do judge by appearance--beauty, credentials, trophies, popularity. It's hard to measure up, and even harder to overcome the insufficiencies that seem to jump out at us from the pages of our history--constant painful declarations that we aren't good enough to fulfill our purpose. BUT God does not see things the way we see them. He doesn't care about our qualifications, our pedigrees, and our popularity. He cares about whether our HEART is suited to his purpose. 

Consider this REAL TRUTH--God's truth, which is absolute, and always somehow contradictory to the so-called truths we learn from the world around us: that being UNDERqualified is exactly the kind of person God always chooses to make into a hero. The victory is divine, instead of man-made. It's miracle, instead of logical. It's unlikely and inexplicable, leaving you full of wonder and others full of awe. Instead of an anecdotal story of the harsh unfairness of reality, it is turned into the beautiful ending of a fairy tale. 

When you're overwhelmed and staring at the underdog in the mirror, seeing just a girl instead of a hero, remember that your purpose goes beyond how you look on paper. Turn away from what you see, and become the one God sees. Put on the glass slipper. Take your sling and stone, and go knock down those giants.

"God does not see things the way we see them. People judge by appearance, but God looks at the heart." --1 Samuel 16:7 




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  1. UnknownApril 5, 2018 at 8:59 AM

    Shelley this is so very good! Thank you for sharing. Love you!

    ReplyDelete

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