Bigger Than the Odds
We live in a society where there are odds placed upon almost every activity; from sporting events to lotteries to the likelihood of being struck by lightning or being in a plane crash, and for some people, even when the next Royal Baby will be born. Odds are nothing more than some numerical expression, often in the form of two numbers, that gives the likelihood that something will or will not occur. So, then, just what does it mean to have odds of 2 to 1 or 30 to 1? The former means there is a 33% likelihood of occurrence, whereas the latter gives just a 3% likelihood.
We see odds being put on lots of things, sometimes not even recognizing it since they aren’t expressed in numbers. Opening a new restaurant might be considered a “roll of the dice,” meaning the odds could tilt in either direction as to whether or not the venture succeeds. Or how about, “Against all odds she beat breast cancer.” After bumping into an old neighbor who moved away years ago, you get home and say to your spouse – “bet you can’t guess who I just saw,” meaning you see it as unlikely (odds are low) they will know. Sometimes we are just happy with any chance of success. In the movie Dumb and Dumber, after Mary tells Lloyd that there is only one out of a million chance that they will end up together, he says this – “So you’re telling me there’s a chance. Yeah!!!”
We even see odds in weather forecasting every single day. You turned on the television this morning and might have heard this, “There is a 40% change of rain today.” Those are odds placed upon the probability of rain by the forecaster, using several factors, namely confidence (likelihood of rain) and coverage (how much of a given area will see measurable rain). So, if the weather forecaster is 50% confident that it will rain and that 80% of a given area will see that rain, the probability of precipitation is 40%.
Maybe right now you face some obstacle that seems insurmountable – the hole is too deep, the pain is too great, the mistake is too big, it is as if the “odds are stacked again you.” You just don’t see any way out; fear leads to despair which leads to hopelessness.
In the midst of what you are facing, no matter how big or how small, we have a God who gives strength to the weary and power to those who are weak. He gives hope to those who find themselves without hope. You might be familiar with these words – “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:29-31).
Throughout Scripture, in times of real doubt, when the odds were stacked against someone or a people group, God asks them, “Is anything too hard for me?” Two examples – to Sarah when she questioned how an old lady could have a son (Gen 18:14) and to the prophet Jeremiah as Jerusalem and its inhabitants were about to lose everything (Jer 32:27).
So, today, maybe against what seems like insurmountable odds, when you feel as if the odds are 100 to 1, or even 1000 to 1, against you, you can have confidence, you can rest assured, that you have a God who is bigger than the odds, a God who promises to be with you every step of the way, through good and bad, thick and thin, when the odds are in your favor, and when they are stacked against you. He says to you right now, Is anything too hard for me?