Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

By John Stallings



During the Thanksgiving & Christmas season of 2009, something happened so jaw-dropping that to much of the world it was beyond belief.

What pro golfer Tiger Woods did to himself & his image during that time & the things that came to light about him constituted the most remarkable fall from grace ever in the sports world. No athlete has ever sat on so high a perch in our culture-right up there with the President & Oprah---& fallen so fast.

Kobe Bryant? Most people never heard of him until he faced a rape charge, that was later dismissed.

Pete Rose? A-Rod? They were in the news because of scandal but neither had the status of Tiger.

Michael Vick? Forgetaboutit!

O.J? That was a bad one, but again, he wasn’t as omnipresent as Tiger was in our culture.

Tiger crossed the line from sports to society in the best & biggest ways. As I’ve said before, Tiger even made me watch golf. Before Tiger, watching golf on T.V to me was like listening to the circus on the radio. How big was Tiger? Tiger was our first billion dollar athlete-that’s with a B.

What was not to like about Tiger? Major wins, beautiful family, daddy’s boy, mama’s boy, & a great marketing machine that put his face everywhere. But then the ugly truth came out. I’m sure I don’t need to say more on that subject. Regarding Tiger’s transgressions, I’ve heard misguided people say, “Boys will be boys, especially if they packing a billion $$$.” I prefer, “Be sure your sins will find you out.”

I hesitate to bring levity into it because of the serious nature of it all, but at the time, we were all so stunned & flabbergasted, people, especially those who had admired Tiger had to use a little humor just to get through the trauma. Someone said; Tiger’s wife is coming out with a new line of golf-clubs, & the advertisement would be, “The only clubs you can beat Tiger with.”

I watched Tiger play at the Masters on his first outing since his fall & what happened there seemed like poetic justice. He always played so spectacularly but in this contest by his own admission he didn’t hit one good shot. Of course that’s by Tiger’s standards. I saw plenty of good shots. His humiliating loss was made worse by Phil Mickelson’s impressive win & his interaction afterward with his wife & children. Mickelson’s wife attended the last day of the competition even though- because she was fighting breast cancer, she had to stay in bed all week to be able to attend. Tiger’s wife was a “no-show.” Who could blame her?

“How art the mighty fallen”- seems apropos when describing Tiger. I find myself praying for him a lot. I pray that he will have an encounter with the living Christ, the one who loves & forgives & gives us the opportunity to start over even when our lives are a mess. My heart also goes out to his wife & precious children.

Many men who start the kind of lifestyle Tiger pursued with a vengeance can never quit. But of course if Tiger turns to God--& I don’t mean Buddha-nothing is impossible. I pray he does.

No question about it, Tiger Woods snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The usual statement is- “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.” This happens when a sports team or anyone in a contest is being badly beaten then gets a last minute break & pulls off an unexpected victory.

But turn that statement around, & we’re now talking about a team or individual, who had everything going for them, had all the advantages & it looked like a “slam-dunk,” but for some reason almost impossible to comprehend, they lose… they’ve “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”

HISTORY

There have been some very famous victories that led to long term defeat. In World War 2, when the Japanese bombed Pearl harbour, many battleships were destroyed & thousands of our servicemen were killed. Indeed the heart was ripped out of the American Pacific fleet. But the commander of the Japanese fleet commented – “all we’ve done is release a bear from his cage.” They had won nothing. Hitler did essentially the same when he invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. It appeared he’d won a great victory but he, just as the Japanese, had merely snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

CHRISTIANS WHO LIVE IN SPIRITUAL DEFEAT

Success can be a dangerous thing, if it isn’t followed by continued vigilance & hard work. I don’t say the following to be critical, but rather to make a few observations.

As I channel-surf T.V, I’m happy to see two old friends, Jimmy Swaggart & Jim Bakker back in media ministry. I met both these men in the early 60s when we were all just starting out & kept in touch with them for decades. As I’ve said before, we were connected financially in a way, because Swaggart & Tammy Bakker had recorded several of my songs. Both were very reliable in paying royalties. I can tell you unequivocally, from my perspective, these men pay their bills. I could also tell you several dozen ministries who don’t. I won’t.

Here were two highly successful ministries who had it all going for them. Both were raising money, & selling books & records at an unprecedented rate & were reaching the masses with the gospel. In my mind, Swaggart & Bakker are textbook examples of men who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. But again, God has been gracious in letting them begin again.

They allowed something, maybe complacency, pride, haughtiness, self-satisfaction, & certainly the lust of the flesh to cause them to temporarily backslide & lose everything in the process. The same thing, or something like it can happen to me & it can happen to you unless we walk humbly & uprightly on a daily basis in the victory Christ won for us at Calvary

…….Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.-1 John 4:4

SAMSON

One would think Samson would have learned his lesson/s….The harlot in Gaza deceived him & so did Delilah. Samson, like Tiger was a “he-man” with a “she-weakness.” Samson is a classic story of what happens to a man when he looks at women as objects.

In Samson we see a guy who had EVERYTHING. He came from godly parents. He had a call of God on his life & he threw it all away. While you know as you read the life of Samson the man can’t be stupid, if we apply Forest Gump’s mother’s rule, “Stupid is, is stupid does,” the guys dumber than a box of rocks. We keep asking ourselves, “Where’s the man’s mind?” Samson keeps making poor choices until he reaches the place that evidently his conscience & moral discernment are destroyed.

Samson keeps deceiving until he reaches a dangerous place; he deceives himself. I think one of the saddest verses in the Bible is uttered about Samson—He didn’t even realize the Lord had left him. Judges 16:20

He was able to get one last prayer answered & makes it into Faith’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. But imagine what he could have done had he stayed true to God throughout his life. In a real true sense, because his enemies bored out his eyes, Samson lived & died in darkness, & it seems all his life he’s snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

JOSHUA AT AI

The victory Joshua experienced at Jericho is well known. “The walls came tumbling down.” This gave the people reason to feel confidence. As we’ve said, success is sometimes more difficult to handle than failure. Joshua as far as we know didn’t consult God about Ai, he just sent a platoon of men to scout them out. They decided that Ai was gonna be “a piece of cake” & a “no-brainer,” so they went against this small town in their own strength. Ai should have been a resounding victory but it ended up being a “Waterloo” for Israel. What they did was snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. How often have you & I done this? We depended on yesterday’s victories failing to stay up-to-date spiritually.

Achan, one of the men of Israel decided to break a commandment of God & keep some valuable trinkets for himself as they faced off with Ai. This was strictly forbidden by God. The combination of over confidence & sin resulted not only in defeat at Ai, but the destruction of Achan & his entire household. This was indeed a severe punishment for Israel.

ELIJAH

A great contest was held on Mount Carmel & the god who answered by fire would be recognized as the true & only god. This contest was a kind of, - my god is bigger than yours, - which Baal lost. Elijah pressed these people. He asked, “How long halt ye between two opinions?”

Ask yourself, would you stand before thousands of people practiced in human sacrifice & tell them their religion was wrong? Wouldn’t it at least cross your mind that you might be their next sacrifice? This is what Elijah did so he wasn’t a coward.

Four hundred & fifty prophets of Baal prayed first & nothing happened. The reason for this is obvious-there is only one true God. Everything else is falsehoods & lies & worthless idols. Franklin Graham just got into trouble with our government for making that statement. What does that tell you about the spiritual climate in America?

Then Elijah came & repaired the alters & placed sacrifices on them. When Elijah prayed a fireball from heaven hit the alter & consumed the water & sacrifices. The people began to shout “The lord He is God.” These false prophets were the official baby killers of that day. They offered children up as sacrifices to false Gods. Elijah had them brought to the River Kishon where they were killed. Through Elijah, God’s judgment was brought on these false prophets.

Then Elijah prayed for rain & rain it did. It was needed because it was the third year of drought. The victories Elijah won that day were great. He’d challenged the entrenched religious set-up of his day. He’d challenged the official religion of the crown & won.

A DIFFERENT SIDE OF ELIJAH

On the heels of this great victory we see a different side of Elijah. Jezebel issued a threat to him & vowed to kill him within 24 hours. It would have been impossible for Elijah to be killed at this time because it wasn’t God’s will. In 2 Kings 1, there’s a story of fire coming out of heaven & consuming two captains & two groups of fifty men each when they came to arrest him.

Yet almost inexplicitly Elijah had a panic attack & ran for his life. The great man of God whose name means, “My God is Jehovah” ran away in fear from a wicked woman named Jezebel. After being instrumental in one of the greatest miracles ever, Elijah snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

When you & I suffer a defeat we have to make the effort to get back up & carry on. But that’s not all. After we’ve experienced a great victory it’s exactly the same. Many times there’s a great let down after a great victory. This victory for Elijah didn’t take away all his troubles. As a matter of fact, in one way it made things worse. Now Elijah had a mean, powerful woman named Jezebel after him. And other prophets of Baal were still around. He was going to be a hunted man.

SAUL

I love the story Tony Campolo tells on himself. He was invited to speak in a Baptist church in of all places Las Vegas. They put him up in one of those casino hotels. He was told to wait down in the lobby on Sunday morning & a deacon would come pick him up.

So he got there early & was just standing in the lobby fidgeting waiting for this deacon to show up. He put his hand in his pocket to find one lone quarter. Campolo isn’t a gambler but he thought, “I may never get back to Las Vegas again.” So he goes over to a slot machine, puts the quarter in, pulls the arm on the machine & he hits the jackpot. Quarters came pouring out all over the floor.

Campolo shoveled them in his brief case & when that was full he put them in his pants pockets & when they were full he began to put them in his coat pockets until his pants are drooping & his coat is hanging down. He gets them all put away & the Baptist deacon walks in. Campolo said he was jingling & jangling his way to the car & the deacon says, “You haven’t been gambling have you?”

When you get caught red-handed there’s not much you can do but fess up. Right? Wrong! That is if your name is Saul.

Saul had much going for him as king. Israel asked for a king so God gave them a man that could have been ordered out of a Sears Roebuck catalogue. He was tall & handsome, & at the beginning he was humble if not downright shy & retiring. Would to God some of that had stuck.

1 Samuel 15 tells the story of Saul disobeying God’s instructions. The Amalekites were a warring people who’d harassed Israel ever since they arrived in the Holy land. God orchestrated a great military victory over these people, & part of His instructions was to annihilate the Amalekites. Men, women, children, animals, possessions: they were to obliterate these people who’d harassed & pillaged them for so long.

We might think these instructions cruel but we have to remember that God’s judgment is always an act of mercy… Later, because Saul didn’t complete the job & left some of these vicious killers alive, they were running around Israel still wreaking havoc on the people of God.

This situation prompted God to say, “I’m sorry I ever made Saul king over Israel. He has not obeyed me.

The night before Samuel confronted Saul about his sin in half-doing what God told him to do, he interceded for Saul. Isn’t it something that someone so stiff-necked & rebellious as king Saul had a mentor like Samuel praying for him?

The next day Samuel sets out to track Saul down which isn’t easy to do. Saul is all over the map now. He’s “Styling & Profiling,” all over the countryside proclaiming the great military things he’s accomplished. In Saul’s thinking, there’s been a new god in Israel now for some time. His name was…..King Saul.
Saul is going from hero to zero because he’s starting to believe his own advertisement & press clippings. He has so much potential but he’s acting crazy. In verse 12 of 1 Samuel 15, in his rampage around the countryside Saul sets up a monument to himself. If we look back at the individuals who—snatched defeat from victory—ego run amuck is a common denominator. Life gets very confusing when you & I go our on way instead of fully obeying God. Saul is now unhooked from God & he’s messing up any good he might have accomplished.

Finally Samuel catches up with Saul & when they come face to face we see what a big liar Saul is. Not only has he not wiped out all the Amalekites, he’s got the king of the Amalekites walking right along with him. Saul’s got him a “king on a string.” He is now in high-gear trying to spin his way out of his lack of obedience when Samuel says— “Shut-up Saul.” verse 16.

Saul has succeeded in snatching defeat from what could have been a victory for him & God’s people. Still searching for an escape hatch; still hiding behind that kingly bravado, still convinced that if he sticks to his story he can sell it to Samuel & even to God Himself.

WHAT WAS SAUL’S BIG PROBLEM?

It would be hard to conjure up any figure in history who was more tragic than Saul, especially in the light of all he had going for him. There can be no question that Saul descended into madness. His life ended by his own hand on the battlefield after he’d witnesses the slaughter of his three sons, including Jonathan, David's friend. After his death his enemies did unspeakable things to desecrate his body. There’s no room to argue about the tragedy that was Saul’s life.

But what caused Saul’s downfall? If we look closely I think we can see parallels between Saul & others mentioned in this piece. Was it jealousy? There can be no doubt that he was jealous of David, because he spent years trying to kill him. If a man was going to be jealous of another man, David would have been a likely subject because he was one of the greatest men in all of human history. If he’d never become king of Israel his writings & prowess in battle would have made him great.

Saul stood by & watched David kill Goliath when he was just a kid. The seed was no doubt sown then & only grew worse as Saul’s son Jonathan transferred his loyalty to him. Then Saul’s daughters Merab & Michel fell in love with him. Then he outdid Saul on the battlefield & won the hearts of the people of Israel.

Was jealousy Saul’s downfall? I don’t think so. I think it was a part of the problem, but not the root of it.

Was Saul mentally ill? It looks like he was what we today would call a schizophrenic. His jealousy turned to paranoia, & then he turned delusional. Even David’s leaving & going on the run wasn’t enough for Saul, he set off in hot pursuit of him. When Saul’s abandoning of his duties as king got the eye of his enemy the Philistines, he ended up groveling & sniveling at the feet of a medium trying to find out from hell what heaven wouldn’t tell him.

But why did Saul become tormented in the first place. What was the flaw that turned such a big man into such a tragic figure?

Consider this. Saul was an exceedingly gifted youth, full of great promise. But as the years went by he didn’t grow with the prestige of his office. Instead he depended on his intimidating presence & ability to manipulate. When he was confronted with the strenuous challenges of his office as king, he shirked them & that didn’t go unnoticed by his friends or enemies. Then he began to sense the growing disrespect of the people. He sensed they were turning on him, that he was losing his grip, but he couldn’t discern why. The reason Saul became tormented was- because of blindness or dullness he just never became who he really was.

Like Tiger Woods, & scores of others, maybe even some of us, he didn’t realize he was responsible to grow & become the person he was expected to be. Too many times he had victory right in front of him but because of his stunted spiritual growth he thought he knew a better way to get it done.

You & I aren’t kings & the Philistines aren’t at the gate. But the same rules of life apply to us as well.

For many of our youthful years everything came easy & we showed great promise. Everything lay in front of us like a dream. Though we’re not kings like Saul we fill offices, we’re mothers, fathers, grandparents, wives, husbands, sons & daughters.

What kind of finish are we going to make? If we fail we won’t fall on our swords like Saul, but we will cause our own relationships & the relationships of others to become skewed or even destroyed. Will we look back over years of regret because we allowed Satan to break our focus?

Saul was the man God chose, who had many wonderful qualities. Yet in a few years he had managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. He lost his contact with God, lost his humility, lost his character, and lost his kingdom. He lost it all.

This is the sad story of many servants of God today too... who started out well. This will never happen to you and me if we walk uprightly before God and stay close to him.

A song comes to mind written by Mosie Lister... here are a few words...

Til the day he tells me why he loves me so. I can feel is hand in mine that's all I need to know.


Blessings,


John