God is in the details. Matthew 10
2/28/2016 10:54:54 PM
God sees it all, cares about it all.


God is in the details.  Matthew 10.

The expression ‘the devil is in the details’ means that mistakes are usually made in the small details of a project. Usually it is a caution to pay attention to avoid failure.  An older and slightly more common phrase ‘God is in the details’ means that attention paid to small things has big rewards, or that details are important.1

When is the last time you read the Creation account in Genesis chapter one?  On Day Five, God thought to create all of the creatures of the sea and birds . . . all of them.  Then he blessed them.  It was the first inkling we had that God is into details.  The next day, he created a human being, and yeah surely, God’s handiwork shouts his attention to detail.  David captured the heart of the Creator when he penned, ‘I am fearfully and wonderfully made’.2  One cannot study the human body—the eyeball, the brain, the nervous system--very long without the realization that God spared no attention to detail. 

And then God shows his magnanimous love in his consideration for all of his creation—in some cases, what we might think of as ‘the least of these’, like sparrows.  Interestingly, in one explanation of Jesus, value is given to little birds and to human beings, the crown of his creation.  Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”3 This was not the first time Jesus used birds to illustrate our value to him-- Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?4

What difference does that make to you and me?  Everything that is of concern to us today is also on the Father’s mind.  Long before we have formed the words of a prayer for help or guidance, God knows; more importantly, he cares.  Once again, we see the heart of God—that he is indeed good--therefore, he can be counted upon. 

Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 11.28-30 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2011:28-30&interface=print

In light of his invitation, we bring our cares and burdens to him … in short, we pray.

After I pray, after I bring my ‘cares’ to God, I am finding that I need his words to stand upon, and I find great strength in them.  Words such as Paul uttered,

“I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me”5                             remind me that I am stronger than I think because of him!

and that Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…”6 

It is not my strength or my power, but his.  I have access to his power because of my relationship with him.

And so as the lyrics of this old gospel song remind,

“Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. . .”

God cares about the details in your life.  Go ahead, entrust them to him.  Then, thank him for giving you the wisdom7 and strength you will need for the day.

 

1 – Grammarist.com

2 – Psalm 139.14

3 – Matthew 10.29-31

4 -  Matthew 6.26

5 – Philippians 4.13

6 – 2 Corinthians 12.9

7 – James 1.5