Some of my favorite moments are when people overcome being outnumbered. Like when a basketball player is being double or triple teamed and somehow finds a way to score. Or when a wide receiver goes up around several defenders and pulls the ball down. These things should not happen, but they do. That is what makes them so amazing.
According to the Bible, God seems to be a pretty big fan of underdogs as well. David beat Goliath. Abraham beat old age. Noah beat the flood. Those are some pretty big odds that were conquered.
He also seems to enjoy see people overcome being outnumbered. When the Israelites were finally ready to enter the Promised Land, they defeated several enemies that were much larger than they were. And they did so with ease.
When Joshua tells them how important it is for them to remember how great God is, he reminds them of how outnumbered they were. “One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.” (Joshua 23:10 NIV)
When we think of overcoming odds, we talk about people succeeding who have a four or five to one chance. Or if we want to be completely ridiculous, we bet on the guy that has a ten to one shot. (Note: I am not talking about actual gambling here…so put away your torch and pitchforks.) But here we see that, with God on their side, the Israelites were victorious despite being outnumbered one thousand to one.
Usually, when we talk about wars, we talk about soldiers in terms of tens and even hundreds of thousands. That is very difficult for us to visualize. It just doesn't seem real. But if you can picture yourself going up against a thousand well-trained soldiers, it becomes a bit easier to see how awesome this feat would have been.
God’s power is truly limitless. But because our perspective is very limited, His power somehow gets lost in translation. Even though we are quick to say that He performs miracles every day, it is so hard for us to truly believe it.
One of the primary reasons that we do not see the miracles we claim to believe in is that we are scared to ask for them. We are so afraid that God won’t or even can’t answer our prayers that we often end up lowering our expectations so we won’t be disappointed in Him. How ridiculous is that?
Because of their faith, God gave each Israelite soldier the power to defeat a thousand enemy soldiers. “The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1 NIV)
The next time you need a “big” prayer to be answered, ask God for a “big” blessing. Pray for safety, pray for strength, pray for healing, pray for a miracle. Do your part and ask, and then let Him do His.