The God of losers

That’s who we worship — a God of losers.

We don’t worship the God of winners, success, wealth, fame, might, etc.

We worship a God who is constantly on the side of the losers, the weak, the outcast, the poor, the homeless, the unknown, the lost.

We worship a God who doesn’t believe in might makes right. Nope. Might doesn’t make right — it usually leaves a lot of destruction and death though.

We worship a God who doesn’t believe that the ends justify the means. Nope. But if that’s your focus, there are plenty of idols and false gods that you can sing to.

Scripture paints us a picture of God. We can’t deny that God supported the Israelites and helped them win battles and even slaughter whole peoples. It’s there.

But take a look at the larger context. Isreal isn’t a winner overall. The people of Israel are enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. Then they wander in the desert for 40 more years. They are constantly fighting the people around them. They are unwelcomed and despised. When they finally have their land, they are in unrest pretty often — worried about attack from surrounding tribes and nations and empires.

They remain unified as a nation for a relatively short period of time and then they split apart and are feuding often with their relatives. And then the empires show up. The Assyrians take control of the northern kingdom. Then Babylon comes through and captures the southern kingdom, destroying the Temple and putting the VIPs…