It’s the most exciting time of the year for college basketball fans in America: the Final Four. This weekend, they will don their team’s colors and expend no small amount of energy cheering as the last four teams alive battle for a national championship. Amid this excitement, I heard a radio host in Kentucky (where the University of Kentucky is hoping for its ninth national title) comment how silly it is that fans pray for their teams to win. His implication is a common one—God doesn’t really care about basketball games. After all, He’s busy with more important matters like sustaining the universe and righting injustice. But is that true? There is plenty of biblical evidence to suggest it’s not. Whether the sport is basketball, baseball, swimming, or soccer, both the outcome and how the game is played matter to God.
Of course, He’s not in suspense about the outcome like we are. The one who “declar[es] the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10) doesn’t bite His nails at the end of a tight game. Nevertheless, here are some reasons why it’s biblical to say that God cares about the Final Four (or your sporting event of choice):
— His providence extends to who wins games. If He controls the outcome of lot casting (Proverbs 16:33), doesn’t He also control how a ball bounces off a rim, whether a referee sees a foul at a crucial moment, and even which team scores more points?
— God rewards the hard work. Proverbs 13:4 promises that “the soul of the diligent is richly supplied,” and Proverbs 14:23 says, “In all toil there is profit.” Although Proverbs are general truths that may have exceptions, it stands to reason that God would honor the efforts of a team that prepared for their Final Four appearance more diligently. If this law applies to school, business, and family, wouldn’t it also apply to sports?
— The Apostle Paul used sports analogies (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) and said physical training “is of some value” (1 Timothy 4:8). Though godliness is of greater value, we have divinely inspired testimony that God regards athletics as valuable.
— God cares about whatever licit activities are important to His people. For instance, Jesus took an interest in and blessed His disciples’ fishing business on more than one occasion (Luke 5:1-7; John 21:1-11). Some might claim that the Lord has more important matters to attend than something as temporal and insignificant as catching fish, but His love for the disciples moved Him to bless them in a realm of life about which they cared deeply. Might He likewise bless Christian basketball players occasionally as a gesture of love?
— God takes joy in His creatures’ using the abilities He has given them to display His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). As Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell famously said in the movie Chariots of Fire, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” It can also display God’s glory when a man that He’s made strong and agile dunks a basketball or hits a three-pointer.
God makes no promises that godly athletes or even skilled athletes will always win. To the contrary, often He uses defeat to build character—and, as Paul said, that’s far more important than winning a game or match (1 Timothy 4:8). Still, God cares about sports. You won’t find Him clad in your team’s colors (though North Carolina fans have been known to ask, “If God isn’t a Tar Heel, why is the sky Carolina blue?”). But be assured this weekend that God is not ignoring the Final Four.
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