When I was a kid, we had some pretty successful Little League baseball teams despite being an unimposing bunch of scrawny, pre-pubescent ragamuffins. Our body fat was all around 4%, our muscle mass was even lower, and brain activity was often undetectable. You could have described our arms as noodle-like, but all the pastas would have been offended, and we all bore an uncanny resemblance to fungo bats (you non-baseball folks can Google that reference).
In those days, we would travel to various tournaments, and some of the teams would have “kids” with BEARDS. They were all about a foot taller than us, their arms had these bulbous projections called “muscles,” and it seemed like if they even got close to making contact with the ball it would rocket over the fence. Our high-pitched squeals to “Show us your birth certificates!” were drowned out by all the testosterone in the opposing dugout…these were our opponents, like it or not!
And the first few times we played these teams, we got crushed; we let fear overcome faith in our skills, ability, and preparation. But after our coach reminded us to “trust our stuff,” we were able to defeat these types of teams on a regular basis!
In a similar, but even more extreme sense, the Israelites had been guaranteed victory as they entered the Promised Land. But, aside from Joshua and Caleb, the spies let the size of the inhabitants shatter their confidence in God’s promises. And this lack of trust prevented the doubters from inheriting the land.
And in the most critical sense, Christ has already accomplished the ultimate victory on our behalf. He is undefeated with an unblemished track record of fulfilled promises. But we often let circumstances crush our confidence, squelch our faith, and steal our joy.
It doesn’t matter if the enemies have precocious facial hair and stratospheric levels of endogenous steroids. It doesn’t matter if they forged their birth certificates and seem to have significant advantages. We serve a God who has overcome the power of sin and death. The battle has already been won. And if we simply trust Him, you and I will share in the certain victory
Hebrews 10:23
