Friday, May 24, 2013

On the Run--devotional for the King of Kings Chess Tournament



On the Run
Exodus 14:10-14
King of Kings Chess Tournament
May 25, 2013

            A few weeks ago I was playing a good friend of mine on chess.com. We were playing the online correspondence version where we didn’t need to be online at the same time in order to play. I don’t remember much of the details, other than that I had a distinct advantage and was about to promote a pawn. Without thinking I naturally promoted my wimpy pawn to the powerful Queen. Unfortunately, when I promoted my pawn to a Queen it left him with no legal move left to make. My sure victory turned into a stalemate in the blink of an eye.
            A few days later, we were playing again and the same situation arose where I had the advantage and was about to promote a pawn again. This time I learned from my mistake, and very nearly drew the game again by choosing the Queen, but went with the crafty Knight instead. The game went on for a very long time after that. The game ended when I finally cornered his King, but it took me two Queens, two Knights, and a Bishop (I lost a Rook in the process, too). I won with my 74th move. What’s my point? I looked back at the records and he was down to just his King at like move 50. It took me 24+ moves to finally corner him. I had him in check so many times, but just couldn’t put him in check mate.
            There’s a story in the Bible where the Israelites were the slaves to the Egyptians for about 450 years. God sent ten plagues to force Pharaoh’s hand into letting the Israelites go. Pharaoh finally relinquished the slaves, but soon afterwards changed his mind and began charging after them with the entire brunt of his Egyptian army. Just like when I had the full brunt of my army aiming down on my friend and his lone King.
            The Israelites were at a distinct disadvantage because they were travelling with all of their children, wives, elderly, livestock, and all of their personal effects. The Egyptians were attacking with just their chariots and foot soldiers—men trained for travel and battle. Soon the Israelites became trapped with the Egyptians in front of them and the Red Sea behind them. Check.  
Exodus 14:10-14
When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
            You see when you have God on your side, even what appears to be certain defeat, or certain failure never is. It may seem like we’re losing on paper, or if you look at the board of life, it may appear to be one sided, but it’s not. How many of you have ever been routing someone, only to make a mistake and get beat? I do that all of the time.
            But it’s different with Christians. Even when we lose we still win. The great New Testament evangelist used to tick his enemies off all of the time because he’d say things like, “You know what? If you let me live, I’m going to keep preaching. And if you kill me, I’m going to go straight to heaven. So do whatever you got to do, but either way I’m going to win.” His enemies were frustrated because they didn’t want to give him anything he wanted. If they killed him—he was happy. If they let him live—he was happy. And when they eventually just beat him he considered it an honor to suffer for Christ. His enemies were in a “No Win” situation whereas Paul was in a “Can’t Lose” situation.
            Are you sure you would win? The Lord lets some people live a long life. But everyone who lives a long life will have to watch as one by one all of their pieces get taken off the board, and they’re just waiting for the final move. Others don’t get that privilege. Out of nowhere a trap is sprung and they’re taken out before they even know what happened. None of us know how our games will end, but we can know for sure where we will go when we die.
            The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.   
                If you want to know more about how you can lose everything and still win, please come see me when we’re done here.

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