God Cares About Every Little Thing That Concerns You

I talk myself into believing that God has other issues to fix, problems to solve, and causes to defend. He doesn’t have time for me. My petty concerns hardly measure up to the drama going on around the world. I don’t stand a chance be chosen to receive God’s attention or experience His miraculous intervention on a Thursday morning.

We imagine God cares about the big stuff more, don’t we? Famine, wars, homelessness, suffering, and sickness keep Him occupied for eternity.

I often fight feelings of shame for my simple prayers, my midnight stirrings, and unfolding dreams. It’s difficult to be honest with anyone and share what’s weighing heavy on my heart. If it happens to come out in a conversation, I never fail to add, “It’s no that big of a deal. It doesn’t really matter in the bigger scope of things.”

The words hang in the air, heavy laden with the lie, “I don’t believe God cares.”

Inevitably the dark cloud bursts over my soul. A downpour of disappointment pours out.

These small things will never be His biggest concern, I remind myself again. Especially when I sense I’m getting overly expectant for Him to come.  

In rehearsing this lie, I limit the scope of God’s unfathomable love.

I put fences up where there are wild fields of His tender mercy growing.

I underestimate the reaches His compassionate hands will go to hold us.

Even worse, I’ve noticed I stop praying. I lose motivation to talk with Him about the needs on my heart. My faith becomes irrelevant to daily living; it awakens only in what I deem a significant spiritual situation.

I stop noticing His presence in the details around me. I don’t give Him credit for His work and instead I work hard to maintain a do-it-yourself attitude.

Listening to the hearts of others also becomes a straining activity because I translate most of your normal concerns as too small. I keep the secret to myself, hoping it doesn’t show on my face, “God doesn’t have time for this and neither do I.”

Do you think God really cares about the particulars in your life?

I’m sure you have proof, like I did, for the exact opposite.

Prayers unanswered. Physical ailments lingering. Unexpected obstacles. Failed dreams. Unmet longings. Ripening discouragement. Broken hearts. Not too mention the millions of other more important matters God must oversee.

There will always be proof in our individual lives for us to determine that we are undeserving of the Father’s full attention. The enemy will be sure to point it out to you, and even more if you go hunting for it.

But next time, you feel the urge to sit under the I-don’t-believe-He-cares-cloud, catch yourself before you hunker down there.

Instead of trying to be all humble and selfless to others when we share our small worlds, might I suggest we stubbornly refuse to allow ourselves to believe God is too big to care for our trivial concerns.

Let’s stop muttering doubt and sowing insignificance into one another’s stories with phrases like, “It doesn’t really matter…”

God is glorified when we invite into the itsy-bitsy nuggets of our day, even the shallow spaces we are convinced He ignores, and the seemingly small, forgotten pieces that don’t feel like they have a place in the puzzle of life.

We worship Jesus when we applaud and notice His direct involvement in the invisible details.

When we choose to partner with the Holy Spirit in the hum-drum of life, our faith grows childlike. We learn to travel through our week in wonder of Jesus, on the look out for proof that He is a God who cares.

We don’t need to fight for His attention, sending up super spiritual flares into the sky. His favorite place to be is with you.  

The intricacies that make up you delight Him.

The minutiae of your day mesmerize Him.

Whether it’s dreaming with Him at the kitchen counter, inviting Him into conversation while I sip some tea, hearing His encouragement as I run through my neighborhood in the early morning, or praying over my family’s needs while I kneel in the soil and sow seeds, with every tiny interaction I’m coming face-to-face with the intimacy of a profoundly caring God.

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Verses to Ponder: Psalm 8:4, Psalm 23, Psalm 138:8, Luke 12:7, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4,