Last spring, the Indiana Fever basketball team sponsored a WMBA preseason game against the women’s Brazilian National team. The game was held in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in honor of Indiana’s star athlete, Caitlin Clark. Hype for the game went through the roof. The stadium was packed, and 1.2 million people paid to live-stream the game. Viewership for this preseason game blew away all previous records. Viewers wanted to see how Caitlin Clark would respond to the pressure of the league during her second season.

Apparently, the crowd wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t watch the game, but I couldn’t avoid the countless highlight reels of Caitlin sinking a long, 3-point shot from the exact same spot on the court where she had previously surpassed the NCAA scoring record. The news announcers couldn’t get over how “exceptional athletes can call their shot and Caitlin has given the crowd exactly what they wanted, a historic repeat of the most difficult shot in women’s basketball.”

Stories about gifted athletes like Caitlin Clark are retold for decades when they are able to “call their shot” and then follow through under pressure. I remember seeing black-and-white video of Babe Ruth calling for a home run during the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. He pointed toward center field with his bat and then hit a home run over the center field fence the very next pitch. I certainly wasn’t alive in 1932, yet the story was told to me decades later.

Let me tell you about the ultimate “call your shot” moment in all of history. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, God told his people exactly what he was going to do. Then, 800 years later, it happened exactly as He had described. He didn’t predict something as simple as a 3-point basket or a center-field home run. God described the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God “called his shot” for our redemption, and then made it happen with the world watching.

Who has believed what he has heard from us?
   And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
   and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
   and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
   a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
   he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
   and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
   smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
   and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
   we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
   yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
   and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
   so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
   and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
   stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
   and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
   and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
   he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
   he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
   make many to be accounted righteous,
   and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
   and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
   and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
   and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53)

When I compare the skill and talent of premier athletes against the awesome abilities of God, there is no comparison. God surpasses all others with power, majesty, and love. May we see God for the supreme “shot caller” that we know him to be.