Curveballs and Humility

This past Sunday I preached a message on 2 Samuel 24. In the passage David orders a census, realizes it was sinful, is offered a choice of punishment, and eventually worships after paying for the right to do so. (You can read the message here or listen here, if you like.)

The reason for the idea of the curveball relates to the idea that David effectively threw himself a curve – things were going well, but he decided to place his trust in the size of Israel (and specifically the valiant men who could wield a sword) instead of God. We all make decisions that seem reasonable at the moment only to discover later that we have erred greatly in our understanding or calculations of some matter. For David, his error cost 70,000 individuals their lives. David’s remorse AND repentance kept the situation from being worse, but for the families of those 70,000, life would never be the same. Fortunately, David’s overall response was one of humility, and therefore he was honored by God – not only in the act of sacrifice, but in making the place of sacrifice the future site of the temple.

Humility is such a difficult trait. Human pride (especially male pride) is consuming at times. This is especially true in the world of sports. Every athlete wants to make the heroic play and conversely, no athlete wants to be responsible for letting the team down. I have many images flooding my mind right now of various plays in all sorts of games where a player gets “beat” and looks for an excuse. Perhaps the official should have called a foul/penalty...perhaps a teammate should have helped...perhaps a coach made the wrong call, etc. While these excuses can be made in most any sport, baseball is an especially interesting game.

Baseball is a team game which is individually based in so many ways. Unlike a running back in football who must have the help of the quarterback (to execute a proper hand-off) and the offensive line (to block), a baseball player at the plate cannot (let alone does not) rely on anyone else to get a hit, draw a walk, etc. And yet, that player’s individual performance affects the team, just like a running back’s does or any other position from any team sport. While all sports have a way of humbling even the best of athletes over time, not having anyone to blame but oneself is mostly unique to baseball among team sports.

And because of that, baseball is often said to be a humbling sport. I can think of few instances that better exhibit this fact than when a pitcher unleashes a quality curveball to a batter that is expecting a fastball. If you have witnessed this moment in a game, you will see the batter react in any number of ways with buckling knees or swinging like a five-year old being among the most prominent reactions. Oftentimes, a strikeout pitcher will save this pitch for two strikes, and after “bending one” in for strike three, the batter simply walks to the dugout knowing they have been bested. It is this exact moment that reveals a bit of humility.

The previous two paragraphs could be true of any level of competition from age twelve, but consider a professional athlete. If we just consider baseball, approximately 800 people on earth are on the rosters of the Major League Baseball teams. 800 people out of over 7 billion people worldwide (that's one in ten million, not one in a million!). These athletes are the cream of the crop and do not like to be humiliated (of course, some are not very humble at all). But, in a given moment, you may see even the best of athletes tip the cap to someone else who is better, even if only in that moment. It is this humility that can actually cause someone to train in order to excel in future situations.

The events of 2 Samuel 24 were near the end of David’s life. He did not have many future situations. But the humility he showed to Someone (that is, God) who was (is) better can serve to help us excel now. We all make plans – some of which are good, and others which are not. But life throws us curveballs all the time. And sometimes, those curveballs are due to our own choices. Yet, the curveballs that stymie us are not a surprise to God at all. Thus we must humble ourselves to Him who is better because He truly has our best interest at heart (1 Peter 5.6-7). Just as David humbled himself before the Lord, we must too. Just as David eventually listened to the council of a trusted leader, so must we. And just as David worshipped when the Lord intervened, so must we.

For as Jesus said, when we humble ourselves before God, He will lift us up. But if we seek to exalt ourselves, we will indeed be humbled (Matthew 23.12, paraphrased).