God Cares for the Small Things, Too
Last month, my husband and I sent off one of our cars to a mechanic. We intended to sell it if the problem we were dealing with could be resolved. As I prepared to have all things pertaining to the car in order, I soon realized the title to our car was nowhere to be found. All of those places in our home where important things were held showed no sign of the car title that we so needed. I searched for it daily, anxiously ransacking our home with real uncertainty of whether it would ever be found. In the midst of a seemingly small crisis, I felt totally helpless and needy. I was overwhelmed by the pursuit of finding what was lost, and I needed to pray.
As I prayed, my words sounded so trivial. There are so many other needs and hard things in the world that I could be praying for! Is this a silly prayer? Is this too small of a request to bring to God? Some might suggest that God is too big to be concerned with the minor and minute details of our lives, but this concept is not biblical. Scripture suggests otherwise about God's care and concern for His people and His desire for us to make known to Him the small things, too.
In Philippians 4:6, God commands us not to be anxious about anything. But he doesn't ask this without the tools given to help us refrain from this. God knows that any measure of anxiety does not benefit us in anyway. In fact, being anxious often points us to our situation or ourselves and away from God. It leads us to worry and fear, and away from asking for help. He knows that being anxious won't help us solve our problems or change our circumstances. Therefore, He commands us not to be anxious and asks us to replace that worry and fear with something else: prayer.
The passage continues, "But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God." In every single thing, God welcomes us to bring it to Him in prayer. God delights in hearing our prayers and pleas for help. Bringing everything to God in prayer means both the big and small things. His reminder to us to flee from anxiety and run to prayer in everything means He cares about it all. It means He is willing to bear the weight of all of our circumstances and hear the requests of everything we bring to Him.
We are reminded of God's concern for His people in Luke 12:6-7, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows." During this time, the sparrow would be the cheapest of any bird sold in the market, five for two pence. God sees the birds, and God knows and cares about the feeblest one. Not one is forgotten by God. If God doesn't forget about the sparrows, will He not show a greater concern for His children? He knows every detail of every living thing. There is not a thought that we have that God does not know it altogether. He knows every particular of our lives, even down to the hairs on our head. God's love for us is shown through an inclusive knowledge of us. As He loves, so He cares - deeply.
The Psalms give traction to the truth of God's character in how He cares about our lives, even in the smallest details. Psalm 115:12-13 says, "The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; he will bless those who fear the Lord–small and great alike." He remembers and He sustains. God doesn't ever forget about His people. In Psalm 139:13-14 he says, " For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well." God is deeply concerned and intimately connected with the lives of His people. He knows them from young age to old, from beginning to end, and from the biggest of concerns to the smallest of details. As the Creator of all things, He is involved in every way that we live and move and have our being. In the grand scheme of creation, each small or big prayer we bring to God reminds us of who is truly working in and through all things. God displays His loving and caring character in the way He receives our requests--He graciously welcomes them.
As we journey through Scripture, we can clearly see the type of supplication God delights in hearing and receiving from us. His command to pray, founded on His character and His concerns, draws our hearts towards Him. While my car title jaunt seemed so insignificant, turning to God in prayer changed the posture of my heart at that moment. I was reminded that even the small things are out of my control, too. Whether large or minute, our prayers relinquish our grip on that which we can't control and places our trust in God's sovereign authority over all things. In moments of need, we shouldn't question whether God cares, but rather be reminded of how He has cared so deeply for even the minor details of our lives thus far.
