The God of Tiny Details

Not long ago I spent a week speaking at Dallas Seminary. On my last day there, the president, Mark Bailey, took my wife and me out for lunch. While we were driving along North Central Expressway, I commented to Dr. Bailey about the brand-new, ten-story apartment building that had just been completed. The seminary plans to use the building for married students and also for single women students. When I asked about the $14 million dollars it cost to build, Dr. Bailey said that the money had come in in an unusual way. They received a multimillion dollar gift from some people who had never before given to the seminary. But they needed even more money. At one point, the situation looked bleak until one of the board members, a man of great faith, said that they should stop worrying and start praying for God's guidance. Soon after that, the money came flowing in.
We pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant just as Dr. Bailey was finishing that story. It was very crowded so Dr. Bailey said, "We need a parking spot, Lord." And just at that very moment, a car pulled out from a parking space right in front of the main entrance. "Thank you, Lord," Dr. Bailey said. As I thought about that later, I hesitated to mention it to anyone else because it might seem too trivial. Who knows? Maybe that kind of thing only happens to seminary presidents. But then I ran across this sentence from Charles Spurgeon: "Blessed is that man who seeth God in trifles!" What a positive insight that is. We tend to look at the million-dollar answer to prayer and say, "What a mighty God we serve." But the God of the large is also the God of the small. The God who hung the stars in space is also the God who numbers the hairs on your head. Why should it surprise us that God arranges parking spaces when we need them?
After I mentioned this to my congregation, a woman came up and told me she always prays for parking spaces, especially when she is taking her children to visit the doctor.  Later I received a note from someone who heard the story and attended a potluck dinner after the service. They are fairly new to our church and don't know many people. One of our longtime couples sat with them to welcome them and encourage them. "You know, Pastor Ray, I had prayed that the we would share time with someone at the potluck, and as our Heavenly Father cares about the smallest detail, he came through." Then she added: "I pray that he blesses your week, especially in the "minutiae" of Providence." With that happy thought, I hope you have a very good day.