When Two and Two Do Not Equal Four

This afternoon Maggie and I enjoyed a late afternoon of Husker Volleyball as they took on Missouri State in an exhibition game at the Coliseum. The weather even cooperated. It was dry when we went in.....rained during the game and then the sun came out as we were walking to our car. Now that's when two plus two equals four. But what do we do when it doesn't? I happened to be sitting next to a wonderful gentleman in his 70's from Bellevue, who was extremely intelligent and knowledgeable about sports and schools. We struck up and almost instant friendship as we talked mostly about Husker sports. He knew nearly all of the girls, where they went to high school, who their parents were and what their strengths were. I asked him what he had done for a living to which he replied, "I was in the school business." Never got much more than that, but at one point I remarked, "You were more than 'just in the school business.'" He said, "well, let's just say I enjoy athletics." Never did find out his name, but that didn't keep us from becoming instant friends. I told him that I was a second career pastor and just retired after nearly 25 years. Finally he said, if it won't offend you I may have something that would make you chuckle. He said that when most people pray they are hoping that two plus two doesn't equal four.

In other words, he was saying that we somehow hope God will change the mathematical equation of our situation. I chuckled, but instantly thought how absolutely right he was. That is very profound. We go to God and say, "please make two plus two equal anything but four." It doesn't work that way. It always comes out to be four regardless of how much we beg and plead with God. Very often the Lord will take a situation and rewire it a bit to make it turn out differently. I have seen people with a "terminal illness," graduate from Hospice and live many years. I have seen people receive a miraculous healing. I have seen drunks and addicts suddenly become dry and clean. So, does that mean God changed the course of history and made two plus two to equal something other than four? No, not in the least. You see, two plus two is a logical equation that always and everytime equals four. Three times three equals nine. Ten times twenty is always 200 and so on. God designed it that way. Every situation, like a mathematical equation, is intended to turn out for our good and God's glory. "All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord." "I know the plans I have for you, 'says the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil. Plans to give you a future and a hope."

God's design for humanity is that we fall madly in love with Him and with each other. God's design for us is good and perfect and that two plus two always equals four. Bad things happen to be sure, but that doesn't mean the answer is something other than four. Sometimes our problems are brought on by ourselves. For example, if I smoke for fifty years and get lung cancer was that God's doing or mine? If I drive my car down the road at 90 miles per hour with bad tires and I crash, who caused that.....me or God? Then there are times that it is not our doing at all, but someone else's. If I get hit by a drunk driver and am killed or disable, is that God's doing? Hardly. It is the doing of someone, who for whatever reason, drank too much and then got behind the wheel. Can God change those things? Absolutely! But when He doesn't we can't blame God. Two plus two still equals four although we pray that the answer is something else. What I am saying is that if God heals one person and not me, then is it fair of me to blame God? No, because the final answer to the equation is not found in this life anyway, but in eternity. The plans "for hope," that I mentioned is not always and earthly thing. The perfect hope is in God.

So, do you pray that two plus two equals 3? Sure you do and so do all of us from time to time. But remember that tomorrow is Palm Sunday. The crowds wanted two plus two to equal three, but that was not to be. They had their hopes that Jesus would overturn the corrupt Roman government and restore political and financial security. They had "fuzzy math," as we say. Jesus had something else in mind, something more perfect, something that would provide the correct answer, something that would bring eternal hope. That meant he must also suffer and die and that meant that his followers believed that the answer was wrong. But they were proved wrong. When he rose from the grave he showed them that two plus two was four. It is the only answer just as He is the only answer. Do yourself a favor. Just pray that God will provide the right answer, not the one that we may have decided would be better. He will not disappoint you.

God Bless You and God Bless America!