God Cares about the Details

Sam Rainer

May 25, 2007

Last night I was leading our prayer group at church. Someone asked if my wife and I had sold our house yet. Tired of being asked about it I responded, “No, but it’s all in God’s timing. Keep praying we’ll sell it.”

Like many with “for sale” signs in their yards, we weren’t getting many offers on our place. The goal was to be closer to the church, but months had gone by with no bites. Perhaps I showed my true feelings with my curt response at the prayer meeting. And I don’t know that I truly believed the words I had just spoken about God’s timing.

Sometimes we can preach, teach, and talk about God’s sovereignty as if it’s good in theory but not practice. Or we might refer to His total control over our lives as if it’s there but not really there. My associate pastor calls it the ‘Lord willin’ syndrome.’

For example:

“You gonna be able to get back in time for church, Dan?”
“Yup, Lord willin.’”

“How’s that new deck comin’ along, Stan?”
“Lord willin,’ we’ll get it finished.”

“Your team gonna win tonight, Dave?”
“Of course…Lord willin.’”

“Sam, you sold your house yet?”
“Uhhhh, Lord willin’ we’ll get it sold soon.”

While I don’t want to disparage anyone over trite and perhaps harmless figures of speech, I do want to make the point that God’s sovereignty extends to all areas of life – big, small, petty, and momentous.

Selling a house is certainly frustrating in a cool market, but it is nothing compared to those who sacrifice their entire lives to win people for Christ in places of our world with rocky soil. During our prayer meetings, we always pray for our missionaries overseas. My cousin David and his wife Melinda are on the list. They are thousands of miles from home (though he would probably tell you home is on the mission field). After praying for them, my 52-mile round trip seemed small, and I was convicted about my attitude.

But God cares about even the smallest details of our lives. Even the hairs on our heads are counted. We should never lose sight of what God can do, big and small.

I went back to my office remorseful. One, I had not totally trusted God with all areas of my life. Two, I was also guilty of thinking that God doesn’t care about the drudgery of details. How wrong I was.

When I sat down in my chair, I noticed the blinking light on my phone indicating a voicemail. It was from my realtor. Our place had been sold for the full asking price. God’s timing indeed!

2 comments on “God Cares about the Details”

  1. Brian says:

    Wow…congrats and praise the Lord. My favorite saying is, “Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise…”

  2. kdb1411 says:

    I look forward to the day when prayer meetings will be real meetings of prayer in our churches. When God’s people are truly united in the power of prayer, great things usually happen. And even “little” things, like the selling of a house!

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