RIVALRY WEEKEND: GAMECOCKS WIN!

I’m thrilled. But whose side was God on? Both.

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Whose side was God on in yesterday’s Carolina-Clemson game? BOTH. I was reminded of this truth following Sunday School this morning during a quick one-on-one conversation with my good friend Mac Curfman who had just finished teaching the class a lesson on prayer and John Calvin’s four rules of the same.

A little background: Yesterday my #15-ranked (now #13) University of South Carolina (USC) Gamecocks defeated our Upstate rivals, the #12 (now #18) Clemson University Tigers, 17-14, in a high-stakes matchup with a year’s worth of bragging rights now owned by USC and a host of college football playoff implications the likes of which the Carolina-Clemson Game (aka the Palmetto Bowl, a title I’m not particularly fond of) may not have witnessed at any point in its storied 128-year history. Until now.

True, it’s only a game. And a football game is an infinitesimally tiny thing in the big scheme of all things in our world, lives, and struggles. But God is sovereign – yes, having direct absolute control over and being directly involved – in all things; great and small. So whose side was God on?

BIGGEST BATTALIONS

Voltaire is credited with having said: “God is on the side with the biggest battalions.” Some have attributed this quotation to Napoleon. No matter, you get the point: Regardless of who coined the phrase, God is seemingly cleverly removed from the mix and replaced with whoever takes the field with the most superior, most indomitable, most irresistible earthly force.

But I don’t buy that.

In the Old Testament (specifically 1 Samuel 17) we see the Philistine army as being the indomitable force with the “biggest battalions.” Certainly the warrior Goliath of Gath seemed more formidable than the skinny Hebrew shepherd boy David. But was he? God had a plan.

LESSER IMPORTANT BALLGAME

So back to the far less important Carolina-Clemson game. Important to some of us: Certainly to me I’m ashamed to say, because again it is ONLY a game. Important even more-so to those coaches like Shane Beamer and Dabo Swinney and their assistants and the ballplayers themselves who have invested so much of their lives to collegiate football greatness and NFL dreams: Years of committed work in the weight-room, on the field, suffering through tormenting two-a-day practices as kids in stifling heat, sprinting, running, training, hitting, drills, hours-and-hours of watching film, and a parade of gameday successes and failures.

THEY ALL – at least most of them – prayed for victory yesterday.

THE BOYS CRIED

As the final few seconds of the fourth quarter ticked off, some young men dropped to their knees weeping for joy (like my Gamecocks) and giving glory to God. “This is what God does,” shouted one teary eyed Gamecock victor.

Clemson boys also wept, but not for joy. Their tears were the marks of deep disappointment after all of their hopes and dreams (following all the physical, mental, emotional, even spiritual sacrifice) seemed to be temporarily dashed on the field in Death Valley.

“No one deserved to lose this game,” said a victorious albeit gracious South Carolina Coach Shane Beamer.

EVERY GOOD THING GIVEN

So was God on the side of the Gamecocks? God certainly gave us a magnificent win yesterday. I’m remembering now James 1:17 which tells us: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights with Whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

And if you’re a Gamecock. yesterday’s win no matter how insignificant was a “good thing given” and “a perfect gift.”

What about Clemson? Those young men of faith prayed for victory too. And didn’t they deserve it?

MAC’S REMINDER

“Yes, but here’s the thing,” my buddy Mac reminded me. “I don’t think God really cares about who wins the Carolina-Clemson game [chuckling]. Also we have no idea what professional scouts were in the stands eyeing a certain Clemson player or players and being mightily impressed with their stopping our Gamecocks on a fourth and inches, and the forced turnovers…”

Also consider those searching for talent who witnessed the handful of Clemson defenders who were ultimately able to bring down the Gamecock’s sack-evading redshirt freshman QB LaNorris Sellers; and NFL scouts being awed by Clemson QB Cade Klubnik’s performance leading to 280-passing yards total.

Fact is, a lot of young men (Carolina and Clemson ballplayers specifically), their friends, family, and supporters were praying for God’s blessings on their individual and team performances yesterday. And God answered all of those prayers perfectly, and those prayers will continue to manifest themselves into huge blessings in the coming weeks and months. Even the ones we might not easily or immediately recognize.

– W. Thomas Smith Jr., a lifelong Gamecock, a graduate of the University of South Carolina and a former adjunct professor at USC; is a former U.S. Marine Infantry leader and a New York Times bestselling editor. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.