Sports and Competitions 10-6

NUMBER TEN - CAIN AND ABEL COMPETE TO PLEASE GOD (GENESIS4:1-15)

The brothers Cain and Abel both brought sacrifices before God, but Abel's sacrifice was better than Cain's and God let them both know it. Cain didn't like being beat, so he removed the competition by killing his brother.

NUMBER NINE - GOD AND SATAN COMPETE FOR BRAGGING RIGHTS (JOB 1-2)

In the Book of Job, Satan and God challenge each other to a contest - a bet. Satan thinks that Job is too good to be true and given enough suffering, his evil side will come out. God does not agree so the bet is on.

Job was given a crud load of suffering and loss without knowing why things were going so poorly.

As Job's friends gathered around, they shared their world's best counseling methods, utilizing the best wisdom and the greatest self-help available which pretty much came down to "God is fair, turn to Him and you will prosper again." But Job didn't like their advice and said it was cheap, which got his well meaning friends upset, so they accused Job of being a terrible person who deserved what he got.

Job became suicidal, told his friends they were jerks, that the suffering was not fair, and that human reason, self-help therapy, and tradition was fundamentally wrong and useless in his face of such suffering.

At the end of his competition, God restored everything to Job and let his friends know that they were jerks; but no more was said of Satan and God's competition.

NUMBER EIGHT - DAVID AND GOLIATH

As the king of Israel, King Saul was the best qualified, the most armed, and the tallest man in all of Israel, so when this monstrous man called Goliath challenged anyone in Israel to a cage match, he was hoping the king of Israel would take up the challenge. Instead the tallest man in Israel sent a young man who had very little training in the cage.

The battle began with trash talk and then should have moved on to hand to hand combat. Swords, clubs, shields, and daggers were the usual weapons of choice, however, David brought only a sling and a few stones.

Of course we all know the story - David hit the giant in the head with a stone, and knocked him off his feet. Before Goliath could regain his senses, David grabbed the giant's sword and with several whacks cut off his head, lifted it high for both sides to see that he won the contest.

NUMBER SEVEN - ELIJAH CHALLENGES 450 PROPHETS OF BAAL TO A TEST BY FIRE

As today's world is getting more and more diverse, people are getting used to having different religions around. In Elijah's day, in his world, there were pretty much just two religions focusing on two different Gods. Baal and Yahweh.

Elijah, who worshiped Yahweh challenged 450 priests of Baal to a competition. Both sides were to build altars, place offerings on those altars and call on their gods to consume those offerings. As in the match with David and Goliath, there was trash talk involved, and as in David's match, the loser or losers were going to die.

The priests of Baal cut themselves and danced in a frenzy, but nothing happened. However, when Elijah prayed, God answered by consuming his offering with a fire.

NUMBER SIX - SATAN CHALLENGES JESUS TO A DEMONSTRATION OF HIS POWER

After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, God led him into the desert to be tempted and tested by the devil. When he was being tempted, the devil gave him three tests.

-Jesus was challenged to use his powers to satisfy his own needs by turning a rock into bread.
-Jesus was challenged to claim God's Word, throw himself off a tall building, and prove that God would protect him as the Bible promised.
 -Finally, Jesus was tempted to avoid suffering and death by taking the road to fame, wealth, and power. 

In all three trials, Jesus denied his own feelings and desires and trusted God to meet his needs.

THE TOP FIVE CRYBABIES IN THE BIBLE

NUMBER FIVE - JONAH HAS A PITY PARTY (JONAH 4:3)

"Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Jonah is one of the few prophets in Israel who was successful. Most of the other prophets throughout the history of the nation failed to keep back God's wrath. The problem for Jonah was that he didn't want to be successful. He wanted to fail, so he tried to run away from God's presence, was thrown into the sea, swallowed up and puked out by some fish, and went to Ninevah to tell them that God was going to destroy the place in 40 days - which was what Jonah hoped God would do.

Jonah knew that if Ninevah, which was the most vile of all cities, was warned they might change their ways, turn to God and escape disaster. He preferred the vile city to be destroyed. As he feared, after preaching the people turned away from their sins, fasted and prayed, and God spared them. So Jonah went up on a hill overlooking the city and pouted, stubbornly waiting for God's promise to destroy the city even though he knew he would be waiting in vain, for as he feared and as he expected, God turned back on His promise to destroy Ninevah.

NUMBER FOUR - HEZEKIAH GRIEVES HIS OWN DEATH (ISAIAH 38:5)

"Go tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the LORD, The God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.'"

King Hezekiah got very sick and when the prophet Isaiah came into the presence of King, the prophet told the king to get things in order, for he was going to die. The prophet left the room and the King wept, pouring out his heart to God.

Before the prophet could leave the building, God gave Isaiah a new message; so the prophet turned back and told the king he was going to live another 15 years.

NUMBER THREE - JEREMIAH HAS NO FRIENDS (ISAIAH 9:1)

O that my head were a spring of water 
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night 
for the slain of my people.

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He certainly had a passion to see his nation prosper, but he knew that his country was on its way out. He prayed to God for its deliverance, but God told him to stop praying 3 times. He argued with God for the nation's survival, but God's decision was firm. He warned the people, hoping to see them change the outcome of what was to come, but they rejected his advice.

Jeremiah's passion and message separated him from others. While they partied and had great times; he spoke of doom. While they married and invited others to celebrate, he was left uninvited. No one liked him, and that rejection took its toll. He remained single although he wanted to marry and have children. He was an outcast in a nation that threw away their most important person. He was thrown in prison and hated.

Jeremiah was a failure to all who knew him and he was unable to get his people to save themselves from disaster. In every way, he seemed to be a failure. but he was one of the greatest prophets who ever lived.

I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation (Jeremiah 15:17). 

NUMBER TWO - ELIJAH RUNS AWAY (1 KINGS 19:4)

Elijah sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD,: he said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died."

Elijah was one of them most powerful prophets ever to live. He was a miracle worker able to create a famine that lasted 3.5 years. He was also able to call down rain to end the famine. In one of the Bible's biggest contest, Elijah challenged hundreds of prophets for another god to a contest. If either of them could call fire down from heaven, theirs would be the true God. Elijah won the day, slaughtered all the other prophets and celebrated victory.

Unfortunately, his victory was short lived. The Queen demanded Elijah's death in return for her many prophets, so Elijah ran away into the wilderness an sought to end his life.

In the wilderness, God let him know that he was not all alone and that their would be a better future to come.

NUMBER ONE - JOB WANTS TO DIE (JOB 3:3)

May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, "A boy is conceived!"

Job was the victim of a contest between God and Satan. Satan was sure that under the right circumstances he could get Job to turn against God and he convinced God to a challenge. God accepted the challenge with certain limitations. So Satan took everything and everyone away from Job, leaving him in extreme pain.

Job reacted with heartfelt, pain filled desire to have never been born.

CONCLUSIONS (PSALM 30:5)

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Depression, suicidal thoughts, deep sadness, and crying out to God were common with our Bible heroes. Most of them pouted and cried because like all of us, there were times when things did not go their way, but in then end, things turned out okay. In fact, weeping sometimes got a hold of god's attention.