A God Of Details

A God of Details

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! Psalm 139:17-18

SOME PEOPLE ARE RELUCTANT TO “BOTHER” GOD with small things. Others resist asking him for “too much.” We want our prayers to be just the right size—too big to deal with on our own but not so big as to seem presumptuous. We forget how intricately involved God is in every detail of our lives.

God is everywhere, even in those details, and he has invited us into a comprehensive relationship. He is already aware of everything. He watches over our lying down and rising up, our comings and goings, our hopes and fears, our needs and wants. He wants us to understand the importance of “small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10) and to see every mountain as minuscule compared to him (Mark 11:22-23). He wants us to have God-sized vision—more expansive than any telescopic view and more intricate than any microscopic view. He doesn’t want us to agonize over details or massive problems. He wants us to bring those details and problems to him instead. He saves, empowers, and restores much more thoroughly than we can imagine.

Kingdom thoughts allow for no hesitations, no barriers between our prayers and God’s attention. They conform to his character, to be sure, but they place no other limits on our conversations with him. So go ahead and “bother” God with the small things, and go ahead with your audacious requests. Have the kinds of conversations that are welcomed in intimate partnerships. Talk to him about minor inconveniences—your need to find a decent parking space, that awkward moment in your conversation with a friend, the annoying problem at work, and more. Talk to him about major challenges—your most impossible desires, your most enduring problems, and more. Your life is more than these things, but your relationship with God should encompass all of them. He calls you a friend (John 15:15; James 2:23), and you have every reason to act like one.

The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer but unoffered prayer.