August 30, 2016–Devotions — Rio Olympics
Basketball

“There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth.2 He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” 1 Samuel 9:1-2

Is it any wonder that the United States has usually dominated the sport of basketball on the Olympic stage? For the same reason that we have struggled with soccer on the world stage, other countries struggle with playing basketball on a professional and Olympic level because they do not have the long history of playing the game in their countries. Of course, the men and the women who play professional basketball in this country are usually the ones who stand one if not two heads taller than the rest of us. No, this is not the case with everyone who plays basketball. There are those players who are of a more average height. But, most of them stand taller than the rest of us. This is another reason our country would dominate in the sport – we seem to be a country that has more tall people. Or at least, that is what I thought, until I did some research. Here is what I discovered:
“Over the past 30 to 40 years, the average height of the populations in high-income nations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland and Japan, has stopped growing, despite increasing at the start of the study. For example, the U.S. — once the having the third tallest men and the fourth tallest women in the world — has fallen to 37th for men and 42nd place for women. The study found the average height of men and women in Italy and Spain, as well as much of East Asia and Latin America, is increasing. However, over the past three to four decades, certain countries in North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, have had their population’s average height decline.”

Well, so much for the “we have taller people” argument for excelling in basketball. I guess we are better because we have more people who play the sport from a young age – and this country supports our basketball culture.  It appears that Saul, the son of Kish, was a triple threat: he was tall, he was handsome, and he was rich. Saul had it all. He would go on to be a king of Israel, but a flawed one at that. Saul would go on to make the mistake of sacrificing to the Lord (when the Philistines were on the threshold), in essence assuming the responsibilities of the Priest (here it was Samuel). Samuel would go on to warn that Saul’s kingship would not last. When Saul was pressed to stand tall and be patient for the Lord, instead of a slam dunk, he was rejected for his lack of trust. And yet G-d will continue to give Saul opportunities to a messenger and a servant for the Lord.

We may not be the tallest, the most educated, or the best, but that does not mean G-d will look to others to be messengers of the Gospel. G-d will use us, no matter how we look, no matter what height we stand, or no matter how flawed we feel. G-d is looking for those who are willing to get into the game of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dave