BY GREG CRUM
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” I Peter 5:6-7
In I Peter 5:7 we are encouraged to “cast” all our care on God. The Amplified Version of the Bible states that we should cast “the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him…” How could we possibly do this and expect God to respond in a way that alleviates our worrisome circumstances? Well, as the Scripture goes on to say, “…for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.” We can throw care to the wind in clear conscience because God cares enough for the both of us!
Last week we wrote and reminded you of how big your God is. He is the Creator of the Universe, the Almighty, all-powerful and ever-present. He has no true rival, no one or thing really comes close, yet in all His magnificence, in all this “bigness,” He still desires to be involved in the minute details of the lives of His children.
Now, it is true that there are some, even some Christians, that scorn those that believe God desires to be intimately and actively involved in our daily lives. They say we treat the Almighty like He is our “personal genie” and that we shouldn’t expect God to answer prayer concerning the small details of life. They believe that those things are up to us to figure out on our own. Here’s the thing that I think they fail to see: It’s not that most of us think of God as our genie to do as we command and grant us our every wish; it’s just that we know God is big enough to be God of the small things too!
Now, last week we left off noting that God is big enough, strong enough, and wise enough to be involved with every aspect of our lives. He has proved that throughout human history and we have great record of that in the Bible. I mean, think about it. In the grand scheme of things, how trivial is one meal? It wouldn’t hurt any of us to miss one or two, and according to the theology of some today it would be blasphemy to make such a minor request of God. He’s got bigger “fish to fry,” right? Maybe so, but God was still big enough to meet the Israelites’ menu item request in the wilderness (they wanted fowl and it rained birds 6 feet deep, 20 miles in all directions!), and again big enough to feed the 5,000 (plus) with just a young child’s lunch even though they more than likely could have made their way home and figured it out on their own.
Friends, God’s not strained by the totality of humanity’s requests made to Him. If anything, we are not asking and believing Him for enough. He’s way bigger than we’re giving Him credit for.
So, God is big enough for the small things too, and that is due to His utter awesomeness, but maybe more importantly for us, it is equally due to his care for His prized creation. Not only is God strong enough to take care of the small things in our lives, He cares enough about us to want to take care of those things.
Remember the lesson conveyed in Luke 12:6-7? There we are told that the sum of hair on our head is known by God, and for some of us that’s been a running score! What’s that saying? It shows that God is into the intimate details of our lives. He knows things about us that are, in the big picture, insignificant. Why? Because we are of value to Him! You are of value to Him, and even the trivial things in your life matter to Him!
Brothers and sisters, it is true that God is the Almighty and that He holds the Universe in His hands. It’s also true that He’s got a lot to do, in a sense, big things to care for, but He’s a caring Father too. Let’s not forget that.
Let’s remember this as well: He’s mighty enough to take care of our most insignificant needs and wants, so let’s lean into that care more and more.
Greg Crum is pastor of Calvary Temple Church in Lovely.