God's Kind of Favoritism

I once played for a football team that had not been scored upon for seven years. Notice I didn’t just say they were undefeated for that long—I said they were unscored upon for seven years. That’s incredible. But we had an outstanding tradition of good athletes and even better coaches. One such coach on staff at my school was Coach K (his name was longer than that, but I’m abbreviating it in case he ever reads this. After all these years he could probably still beat the stew out of me if he wanted). Coach K strutted around the practice fields with perfect posture, his chest thrust outward like a proud soldier. In fact, his mannerisms were more like a drill sergeant than a football coach. He had a sneer permanently fixed on his face like he was always disgusted with our performance on the field. He yelled at us more than any other coach, and he was the only coach at my school who could get away with cursing at the players—I think everyone was too scared of him to correct him.

Coach K once chewed out a running back named Nick, telling him that he had never in his life coached a player who so consistently got worse every year. He ran him extra every practice and yelled at him every chance he got. The thing about Nick was . . . he made the All-Star team every year. By all standards he was the best player in the league. But you wouldn’t know it from listening to Coach K screaming until the veins in his neck looked like they would pop. If you didn’t know any better, you would think Coach K hated Nick. But we all knew better. On Coach K’s training grounds, this was favoritism.

If you’ve never been on the receiving end of this kind of “favoritism” it may seem strange and inverted to you. But if you’ve ever been really good at something, you probably know what it’s like to have a great coach, or teacher, or mentor breathing down your neck, showing no mercy. You push those from whom you expect the most. That’s how it works. That’s how the good become great.

I’ve watched a young man struggle these last few years with his circumstances. He loves God very much, and he has gambled his entire life on following God’s leadership in his life. But at every turn he meets with failure, criticism, and rejection. Well-meaning friends and family have counseled him, telling him, “Maybe God is trying to tell you something. Maybe you’re on the wrong path. Perhaps this is God’s way of telling you that you are out of His will.” Of course, they have no idea how deeply this cuts at his heart, for all he desires in life is to be where God wants him to be. But if you are one of those who believe God’s primary means of leadership is external circumstances, then you would have to agree with them.

But hold on just a minute. Have we not learned the lesson of the story of Job, after all these years? The oldest book of the Bible tells the story of a man who was living exactly as God intended him to live, yet whose entire life came crumbling down on top of him with supernatural severity. And true to life, the story explains that three or four well-meaning friends came along to enjoin Job to look at his circumstances and discern the judgment of God in his life. But the end of the story makes clear that these “friends” were dead wrong. This was not God’s wrath in the life of Job. It was favoritism. God personally singled out Job for a demonstration of His ways in the heart of Man. In the end He brought Job to a deeper, more solid place than he had occupied before. Job’s testimony became so well-known that we are still telling his story today, 4,000 years later. Neil Simon wrote a little-known play about the life of Job. He titled it “God’s Favorite.” He got it.

If you are still not convinced, you need look no further than the life of Jesus himself to discover what special treatment from God looks like. This is God’s Son, in whom He is well pleased. Never has God’s favor rested so completely on one individual. But how would you have counseled Him after viewing His circumstances? With Peter, would you have argued against compliance with God’s design for the destruction of Jesus? By the end of His three year ministry he had taken a following of thousands and whittled it down to a handful of women, plus John. He was rejected by many, scorned by those who spoke on behalf of God, and He ended His life in shame and disgrace. I wonder how most Christians would react to their Savior’s life if it were lived out in front of them today. I wonder how many of us would lovingly tell Him that this cannot be God’s will for His life, and that there must be something that He should be doing differently.

Mark well the effects of God’s special interest in a person’s life. This Man who knew no sin still had to learn obedience through what He suffered (see Heb.5:8). Do you see that? Hardship in the life of His beloved ones is God’s way of honing, disciplining, (or as Coach K would call it) “conditioning” His chosen ones. It’s the only way to learn to be soft in His hands. Do you expect to follow this Man, whose life culminated in a crucifixion, and fare so much better than He? A servant is no greater than his master.

Now for the good news: When you learn obedience through suffering, you will also learn what it means to endure beyond your own strength. If you will allow yourself to be conformed to the likeness of His death, you will also taste something of the resurrection on the other side of that death. In other words, He will not prevent you from dying, but He will raise you up again at the right time. This hope is what enabled Jesus to pray at his darkest hour, “Into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Here we have an echo (or rather the other way around) of Job’s words in his moment of clarity: “Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15). Spoken like a man who knows the God who said, “I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal” and “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7, Deuteronomy 32:39).

So take heart when, like my friend, your pursuit of God takes you into dark places where there are few friendly faces to shower you with praises or pat you on the back. You are walking into a valley that your Closest Friend knows well. You said you want to know Him. This is how that happens. So take a deep breath, and rest a little. Take heart that you are precisely where you are meant to be. When times are harder for you than they are for everyone else around you, consider this: This is how God demonstrates favoritism. “Do not be afraid, you have found favor with God.” You’re in good company.

P.S. Want to read a great little tract I found about this very thing? Click here.