Did God really answer Eberechi Eze’s hat-trick prayer?

Back in the summer, I made a prediction.

Eberechi Eze had turned down Tottenham Hotspur, the team I support, to sign for Arsenal. For Spurs fans, we not only lost out on a superb footballer, we did so to our bitterest rivals. I can recall mumbling to myself that, to rub salt into the wound, he’ll probably score against us this season.

Fast-forward to Sunday and Eze did just that – and emphatically so. He scored three goals (a hat-trick in footballing parlance) and, during his celebrations, he pointed to the heavens, giving glory to God. Being a Christian and a long-suffering Spurs fan, this left me with very mixed feelings.

After the final whistle, and a 4-1 win for Arsenal, Eze made a remarkable claim during an interview with Sky Sports. “Man, I’m grateful again,” he said. “I prayed for it today…a hat-trick, and God gave it to me. That’s faith, man.”

That’s quite a prayer to pray – not least because no player has scored a hat-trick in a North London derby in 47 years.

Praying for my team to win

Can I be honest here? Hearing Eze speak, and doing my best to put aside my own personal Spurs-induced misery, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with his words.

I gave up praying for Tottenham to win games years ago, because it dawned on me that someone was probably praying for the opposite team. God probably has bigger things to deal with anyway (the hilariously profound movie Bruce Almighty sheds some further light on this particular quandary).

I wonder if young kids, inspired by their role model, will offer up a prayer, just to see what happens

But something else also nagged at me. We’re all aware of situations, whether personal or involving those we know and love, where persistent prayers don’t bring the breakthrough we desperately long for. I work for Open Doors and spend much of my time writing about people enduring intense persecution for their faith in Jesus. For so many, prayers for protection and provision seemingly go unanswered.

Consequently, to pray for a hat-trick, for my team to win, for a parking space - or any other relatively unimportant matter - and then to celebrate that answered prayer sometimes seems…trivial?

Googling Jesus

And yet, even my Spurs-tinted heart can’t stop me feeling joy at the way Eze speaks so openly and eloquently of his faith in Jesus. Even when he snubbed Tottenham for Arsenal, and he shared how the move was “the realisation of a prayer we [he and his mother] prayed 20 odd years ago”, I was chuffed for him. He lives it, too, recently telling the ‘Beast Mode On’ podcast: “If I say I am a Christian, that means it must affect the way I act, the decisions that I make.”

Just a few months ago, I wrote about Crystal Palace’s stunning FA Cup Final victory over Manchester City and how, at its heart, was a group of players committed to praying regularly together – Eze included. A few weeks later, I got chatting to an avid Crystal Palace fan. It was striking to hear how much he knew of the Palace players’ faith, and how much he respected it, despite not sharing their convictions.

The mystery of prayer

It was the smallest of windows into how the increasingly open faith of prominent sportspeople is touching lives, in ways we will probably not fully realise this side of eternity. I wonder if young kids will take to their own pitches in the coming weeks and, inspired by their role model Eberechi Eze, they will offer up a prayer, just to see what happens.

I wonder, too, if some will read Eze’s Instagram post about Sunday’s game, or see pictures of him celebrating alongside the one-word caption “Jesus” and Google “Eze Christian faith” to find out more about the man that means so much to their own hero.

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A post shared by Ebere Eze (@eze)

Prayer is complex but powerful. We don’t know why some prayers are quickly answered but others, so often the bigger ones, seemingly go unanswered, for now at least. But we can cling to what we know: that Jesus asks us to pray for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11), to commit our ways to him (Psalm 37:5), to leave our anxious cares in his hands (1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-7), to trust that he’s a good and loving father in all things (1 John 3:1), and that his ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We also know that, when confronted with unanswered prayer, we’re invited to wrestle with God (Genesis 22:26). This is the kingdom economy – one we often won’t understand, but one that still makes sense to God.

Perhaps Eze’s prayer for a hat-trick wasn’t so small after all – and maybe that’s true of all our prayers.