207 | God’s Supernatural Number

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Have you ever paused to consider how many ways you can arrive at the number 4?
2 + 2 = 4
1 + 3 = 4
0 + 4 = 4
2 + 1 + 1 = 4
3 + 0 + 1 = 4
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4

In life, people’s stories unfold in different ways, yet all according to God’s purpose and grace. Some look straightforward (2 + 2), some are slow (1 + 1 + 1 + 1), some look empty for a while (0 + 0 + 4), and some feel scattered (1 + 2 + 0 + 1), yet they all arrive at 4.

This is a vivid, mathematical picture of God’s timing and destiny. People’s lives may not look like yours, their steps may be uneven or quiet, but God’s equation is still playing out.

When we begin to think about the plans of God for each person, we realise that God is not bound to one method, one formula, or one timeline. This is why we must never mock another person’s process or write them off based on the part of the equation they are in.

God works through different timings, different stories, different pathways, yet all leading to His appointed outcome.

Isaiah 55:8–9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Do Not Underestimate a “Zero” Season

Sometimes when someone is in a 0 + 0 season, they appear empty, like they have nothing to offer or nothing going for them. Or, they may be at 1 + ?, visibly lacking what you already have. Perhaps they are still trusting God for a spouse, children, or a breakthrough in business or purpose.

We may look at them and wrongly conclude, “Nothing good can come from here” or think they are far behind. Yet in the blink of an eye, God can add 4, and suddenly, they are at par with the one who arrived slowly through 1 + 1 + 1 + 1.

When Nathanael heard about Jesus of Nazareth, he said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Yet from that very place came the Messiah.

It is dangerous to judge a person or a people based on a silent or slow season. It is important to always remember that God is never late, and delay is not always denial.

• Joseph looked like a forgotten prisoner, but in a day, he was elevated to second in command in Egypt (Genesis 41).
• Moses looked like a failure in Midian, tending sheep at eighty years old, but that was the very place God chose to meet him in a burning bush (Exodus 3). He went from tending his father-in-law’s sheep in obscurity to standing before Pharaoh, the very man he once fled from, but this time as a godlike figure empowered by God (Exodus 7:1). He went from being an ordinary man to parting seas, striking rocks to bring forth water, and leading a great people with power and might from God. (Exodus 17, Deuteronomy 34)
• In one day, through four lepers, God turned around the entire situation in Samaria. One moment the people were starving, resorting to cannibalism (2 Kings 6:28–29); the next, they were stepping into overflow. The city went from famine to abundance because God used the most unlikely vessels (2 Kings 7:3–16). Never underestimate what God can do or who He can use to change a story.
• Gideon went from hiding in fear to leading 300 men into a fierce battle they won, because the host of heaven fought with them. (Judges 6:-7)
• Joshua went from being Moses’ assistant to leading Israel into victories he could only have imagined, and ultimately into the promised land. (Exodus 24, Joshua 10)
• Abraham and Sarah went from having no child of their own to becoming parents of nations, just as God had promised. (Genesis 17-18) 

Discern People Beyond Their Present

One of the greatest mistakes we can make is to misread someone based on where they are now. If you saw Peter brazenly deny Jesus Christ, you would not have likely imagined the Peter that emerged from that version denying his Lord. It would indeed have been hard to see the rock upon which our Lord Jesus would build His church.

Peter’s story, like many others, teaches us not to be quick to label people or write them off. That man still on one plus nothing might just have around his corner God’s Big Four.

Some people are still in addition mode. Others have not even started, but no one’s sum is final until God is done.

What is your duty to people as they go through their seasons and processes?

Don’t laugh at their missing figures.
Don’t despise their slowness.
Never assume you have seen all they will become.
Be the voice of reason, the one that encourages someone who feels like they are behind in life’s equation. Pray for them and strengthen them.

Every person has a divine equation written by the hand of God. Let Him be the one to balance it. Let Him be the one to say, “It is finished.”

If you are the one writing yourself off…

If for any reason life has pushed you into a place where it feels like you are stuck at 0 + 0 + 0, and you have begun to believe that nothing good can come out of your life, take heart. God is not finished with you.

His plans for you are still active, and they are most certainly good and perfect (Jeremiah 29:11). Even if you cannot see the full picture now, know that God can exceed your expectations in a day, in a week, in a month, or even in a year.

A lot can happen in a year, enough to leave you in awe, wondering if you somehow became God’s favourite. The truth is, many people do not see the big miracle coming in the way it does. They may have been hoping, praying, and expecting, but when it finally arrives, the moment can feel so surreal that they almost miss it or it can feel too good to be true.

God is still in the business of surprising us with mercy, overwhelming us with sudden favour, and changing stories in such a way that it feels like a dream. Psalm 126:1 says “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.” 

There is a popular Yoruba song that carried me through one of the toughest seasons of my life. It says:
Were l’O bamise eeeeee
Were l’O bamise
Ohun t’aye ro pe ko seese,
Were l’O bamise.

It means:
Easily or just like that, God did it.
What the world thought was impossible, easily, God did it.

God can do it easily. He can turn your situation around, add that missing figure to your equation, and in the blink of an eye, you can be fully settled and established.

There is a song by Deitrick Haddon that captures this truth so powerfully. It says:
Exceedingly, Abundantly
Above all, all you could ask or think
According to, the power
That worketh in you, you…
God is able to do just what he said he would do
He’s gonna fulfill every promise to you
Don’t give up on god, cause he won’t give up on you
He’s able