I love being a child of the 1980s. Maybe not so much now that I am middle-aged, but it was a wonderful time to grow up. The cartoons were continuous and clean. We rode our bikes with BB guns in tow. We scaled fences, cheered for the Goonies, and rocked to “Don’t Stop Believing.” Ronald Reagan was president. The Cold War was winding down. Life was good.
One of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons was Wacky Races by Hanna-Barbera. The best drivers in their radical (you’re welcome) cars raced for fame and glory each week. My favorite characters were Dick Dastardly (that’s a fun word to say, DASTARDLY) and his sidekick Muttley, a wheezing dog.
How would one incapsulate Dastardly to a generation that has never seen or heard of him? A wrestler named Gorgeous George once remarked, “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!” That sums up Dastardly with one exception: he always considered himself a victim—a victim of his own cheating, the rules of an inferior car, or even Muttley’s schemes to right his owner’s dubious wrongs.
A victim mentality is pervasive in our culture. It is exemplified by believing that whatever goes wrong is always someone else’s fault. It may also come with a sense of one’s inability to accomplish what one can accomplish. This is illustrated in the account of David’s battle with Goliath, which you will find in 1 Samuel 17.
King Saul and the Israelite army believed that they could not beat the giant of Gath. Why? Well, he was big, and evidently, he yelled a lot. These are the people of the Lord Almighty. Fear of a mere man in battle seems odd. The fundamental problem was they viewed themselves as victims, incapable of accomplishing what needed to be accomplished.
Yet, a young man named David, hearing the giant’s rant and his blasphemy against the God of Israel, recognized that he had all he needed to win the battle. Scripture tells us that King Saul offered his royal armor, which did not fit the young man. So, David walked into the battle, not with a soldier’s armaments but that of a shepherd, his staff, a sling, and a pocket full of rocks. David knew that was all he needed.
How was he so sure? I believe there were four things that David knew.
- David knew the power of his God.
- David knew the history of his God.
- David knew the giant was defying his God.
- David knew his greatest weapon was God.
Our lives are filled with consistent stress, overwhelming circumstances, and situations outside our control. It is easy to take on a victim mentality, believing it is someone else’s fault, and I can’t do anything about it anyway. Nothing could be further from the truth. As one remarked, I and God are always a majority. David had faith to believe. He had past experiences where God had shown Himself faithful.
At the end of each Wacky Race, no matter what the situation, Dastardly always lost. He was either caught cheating or blaming others for his situation. Muttley would chuckle in his wheezy voice, and Dastardly would yell, “drat and double-drat.” I could not wait for next Saturday so we could do it all again.
In your life, you have a choice to yell “drat and double-drat,” always blaming someone else for your situation. Or you can choose to rise victorious in the name of your God. It’s our choice. Be a victor, not a victim like Dastardly.
Through Time 