Unexpected Victory

“It is the game, not the odds that determine victory.”

Loren Thornburg

With all of the unexpected outcomes from the NCAA basketball tournament I think we can all agree that odds don’t determine the win.  Although they are often a great predictor of the game, there is always room for unexpected victories.  I can hear my dad's voice saying “that’s why you go ahead and play the game.”  Even in games where the opponents are of the widest spread they still play the game.  I wonder though how often in life we look at the odds and decide not to play.  We opt out of trying because it seems that our chances of success are stacked against us.  However, just as in basketball, so it is true in life…there is always room for unexpected victories.  No matter how true the odds may seem there is always a chance that they are wrong.  For they were only meant to predict and not to determine.  So to that dream that seemed out of reach, to the goal you gave up on and to the hope you thought hopeless…don’t give up.  Unexpected victories are always a possibility.  

“Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites.  I am sending you!”

Judges 6:14

The Bible is full of unexpected victories and unlikely outcomes.  The gospel seems to thrive on them.  Moses an unlikely leader, Saul an impossible choice for evangelizing and Gideon’s small army a miraculous victory.  The point of every story is to point to the One who writes the story rather than the ones in the story.  It was not that Moses, Saul or Gideon changed into someone great, but that they trusted in the One who is Great!  In Judges we read the story of Gideon overturning an army of 135,000 with just 300.  Gideon wasn’t called to become something great, but rather “to go with the strength he had” because it was God who was sending and who would make it happen.  The same is true for you.  Go with the strength you have and trust the Lord to make it happen.  You are His and it’s His story, so you can trust Him, the One writing the story to make it turn out right.  When we trust in Him we can expect some unexpected victories along the way, for that seems to be the way He does it.