What Do You Do When the Numbers are Against You?

Daniel 3

Here are some startling numbers: 1 in every 500 U.S. residents have died of Covid-19. Here is more bad news numbers. Life expectancy in modern, affluent societies is supposed to move in only one direction: upward. But that is not what is happening in the United States. The 2010s were the first decade in American history in which life expectancy failed to rise since the federal government began keeping comprehensive mortality statistics in 1900.

The crux of the matter is this: the overall US life expectancy numbers conceal widely different outcomes by socio-economic status. Faced with adversity, many Americans like to say that "we're all in it together." But when it comes to life expectancy, this isn't true. Life expectancy is still rising for those Americans who are more affluent and better educated, while it is falling for those who are not.

The United States is a nation already experiencing deep division. Now we are adding one more: the long-lived and the short-lived.

Numbers are often the bearer of bad news, but they are not the only reality if you are counted among the 10x’ers—those children of God called to be ten times better like Daniel and his three friends: Shadrack, Meshach and Abed-nego. They faced a universal dilemma: What do you do when the numbers are against?

We see in Daniel 3 that when the numbers are against you and you are a 10x’er, you need to do three things: (1) take your faith to another level; (2) keep your cool when the heat is turned up; and (3) finally, you need to do a re-count. You have more with you than you think when you trust the “able” God. You can survive the fire.

First, when the level of the field you’re playing on is uneven, take your faith to another level. The three 10x’er Hebrew boys did. I call them 10x’ers because, in Daniel 1, they chose to follow God’s program rather than the Babylonian cultural indoctrination and came out ten times better. But they would face a greater challenge, not food, but fire.

Shadrack, Meshach and Abed-nego were not on a level playing field. The Babylonian law was against them like it was for African Americans during the era of Jim Crow laws. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all his officials to bow down to a golden image he made. “If you don’t, you will be thrown in a fiery furnace,” he threatened. Bowing down was easy for all the idol worshipping officials whose custom was to worship the king, but for the three Hebrew boys, they would not bow because they served the one and only “able” God. They took their faith to another level:

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Daniel 3:17

If you can say God is able even if it looks like he won’t deliver you in the court room, operating room, or board room, you’ve raised the level of your faith like the three Hebrew boys. At His appointed time, you will beat the numbers when they are against you.

Second, when the heat is turned up, you need to keep your cool. Turn your thermostat down. The three 10x’er Hebrew boys didn’t lose their cool like the angry King Nebuchadnezzar who lost his when they showed that “other level of faith.”

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. Daniel 3:19

He turned up the furnace 7 times hotter. It reflected his escalating anger. He was hot, hot, hot. But when you act out of that kind of anger and unwarranted urgency, you are more likely to hurt yourself or somebody else. Look at what happen to the King’s flunkies in charge of throwing the three Hebrew boys into the furnace.

22 The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel 2:22

But the heat that killed the accomplices of the king didn’t even burn the straps that bound the boys. They were as cool as the other side of the pillow as they were led to the furnace because they had that “other level of faith”.

Keep your cool when the heat is turned up in situations when the numbers are against you. Losing your cool won’t get it done. In fact, it can cost you. Ask Moses:

• Moses lost his temper and killed an Egyptian; and had to go on the run as a fugitive.

• Moses lost his temper and threw down the tablets of the Ten Commandments, giving a bad example to a people who were already out of control.

• Moses lost his temper and struck a rock, instead of speaking to it to get water from it for the “ever-complaining children of God.” For that outburst of anger, Moses wasn’t allowed to go into the promise land.

When the heat is turned up in whatever situation you may be going through, turn your thermostat down, and keep your cool knowing who controls the fire.

Things may not go your way all the time. You might be tempted to blow your stack. Don’t. But when you keep your head when others around you are losing theirs, they are the ones who will likely get burned, not you. That’s how to beat the odds when the numbers are against you.

Finally, when you are outnumbered, do a re-count. You have more with you than you think. The three 10x’ers did. They weren’t alone in the fire. The king did a recount:

He answered and said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!" Daniel 3:25

That fourth made all the difference. The 4th has always made a difference. When you have God with you when the numbers are against you, you can rise and walk rather than sit and burn. When the numbers are against you and it appears it’s just “me, myself and I” against the world, do a recount—there will always be a 4th presence for God’s 10x’ers.

• The fourth man is with you like he was with the women caught in adultery.

• The fourth man is with you like he was with Peter who walked on water.

• The fourth man is with you like he was with Lazarus who was raised from the dead.

Yes, that fourth man will be with you someday when death has your number, but you can walk in the newness of life now if you will simply count God to be with you.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. Isaiah 43:2

When you are a 10x’er—committed to God’s program—it doesn’t mean the numbers will always be with you. Fact is, it’s more likely the odds will be against you as men count odds. When that is the case, first, take your faith to another level knowing that God is able to deliver you. Second, when the heat is turned up, keep your cool. Don’t let anger consume your blessing. Lastly, when you think you are outnumbered, do a recount. You have more with you than you think.

COVID numbers and life expectancy stats may be daunting, but they are not determinative. God is able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). It’s OK to think.