God is in the Details

by Marcie Dennis

Psalm 147:4 says, “He counts the number of the stars; he gives names to all of them.”

God truly cares about every little thing you do. He cares how well you slept last night and how your morning routine went. God cares that you were able to ace that project or that you were able to perfectly color inside the lines in your de-stress time. When you explain to him the deep desires of your heart, he cares.

God took time when creating the earth to do it in stages. He could have snapped his fingers and it would all appear instantly complete, but He didn’t. God chose to take His time, go in order and create each part separately. He even created man and woman separately and at different times. He cared about the details.

Psalm 147:4 says, “He counts the number of the stars; he gives names to all of them.” If you do a quick google search to find out how many stars are in the sky, it says 9,096 in the visible sky. What’s staggering is that it doesn’t include what is beyond our scope of visibility and in the other galaxies and universes. That amount is innumerable to us, but God has taken the time to know that number and give them all names. Can you even imagine that? Talk about the details!

In Luke 12:7 Jesus states, “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered! Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Now for some people, this may not seem all that impressive. But consider a woman with thick hair that is constantly shedding, and consider God knows at all points how many hairs are on her head. Then you get a new perspective. On average a person has 100,000 hairs on their head. How meticulous you’d have to be to figure that out and not to mention the time it takes to reassess each time new growth or loss occurs! But God knows it instantly.

God knows you intimately because he formed every last atom of you with great intent. You weren’t randomly thrown together as a clone of anybody else. Each one of us was uniquely created and given specific talents and desires. God has a plan mapped out for us and he always knows how each nanosecond of our day will go. Not only that, but God also wants to grant you the desires of your heart! It says so in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

God Isn’t a Genie

Now, God is not a genie in a magic lamp here to grant every little desire you have. Psalm 37:4 often gets taken out of context, much to the detriment of people’s faith. I’d like to take a moment to look closer at it. Zoom out and you’ll see there are conditions to this listed in verses 3 to 5.

“Trust in the LORD and do good;

dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the LORD,

and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.”

We see that before God gives you the desires of your heart you are to:

1. Trust in the Lord & Do Good

2. Cultivate Faithfulness

3. Delight in the Lord

These are the precursors to God giving us the desires of our heart. When we do these things, our hearts are guaranteed to be in alignment with God and his ways. This way, when we have a desire and we make a request to God, he is happy to grant it because it comes from his heart.

We also know that God cannot sin. This means when we have a sinful desire, that is Not going to be answered by him. He’s not going to erase that lie for you or reward your intentional laziness in that project at work. He will not help your sin succeed; he will hold you accountable just like everyone else. God Isn’t a Micro-Manager

God is not in the details in a micro-managing way either. He certainly has input and answers for you in all areas of life and will guide your spirit to the best decisions. However, what you eat for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner is your choice. Whether you take that job opportunity or not is up to you. The way you parent your children is your choice to make in each new moment. God will give you discernment so that you can make well informed decisions, but he won’t do it for you. We are not puppets on a string where God is controlling every detail of our life. That is the farthest thing from the truth. We all have a choice in everything we do, it’s called free-will and using it wisely is a big responsibility.

So, when our hearts are in alignment with God, when we delight in him, do good and cultivate faithfulness, we will make good and right choices in the Lord’s eyes. That is when he blesses us with the desires of our heart because we are delighting in each other.

God in the Details of my Life

There have been many ways in which God has been evident in the details of my life. The biggest evidence was each moment God checked off another item from my list of the “perfect man.” I bet most of you are laughing right now or nodding your head because you know what I’m talking about. As embarrassing as it may be, we made this list at some point in with the traits of our ideal man. Depending on your age when you created the list usually determined how much was about looks and superficial qualities vs. the more important qualities that make for a good husband.

I honestly don’t remember everything on my list at this point (I’ve been married for eight and a half years). I will share what I remember from my list that evolved several times over the years.

• Funny

• Handsome

• A Christian

• Enjoyed the outdoors

• A Musician

• Someone I respected

• Honest

• Strong & Tall

• Trustworthy

As you can see, I had a practical blend by the time I finished editing it at whatever age I was and forgot about it. Well, to provide a brief background, I’m going to summarize the two years leading up to meeting my one-day husband.

The summer after my freshman year of college I had dated the wrong guy for three months because I misinterpreted and tried forced the saying “God’s man for you will show up when you’re not looking for him.” During the end of our time together my father was hospitalized for a week and at the end of it was diagnosed with SLL “Non-Aggressive” Lymphoma. My father had cancer and I was shaken. Six months later he was gone and the ground beneath me went with him.

I fell into the Lord, literally just clinging to my Bible when I found out because all I could do was cry and hold it. Some point after the funeral I decided that I wasn’t going to date any man for two years because I knew that I would simply be trying to fill a hole. I respected my future husband too much to place that burden upon him, so I kept to that. Not that I wasn’t attracted to men in that time, I certainly was and may have even gone on a date if either of them had asked me, but God took my promise seriously.

Two years later I had journeyed through the most intense part of my grief and was starting to feel a new kind of normal. I was desperately in love with my Heavenly Father who had saved me and given me a new foundation in Him. I had taken that time to see a couple counselors, meet weekly with my mentor and practically rewrite my entire image of God. I suddenly needed him for so much more than I ever had before and was learning to dwell in him constantly. I took delight in my daily devotional time with him which included consistent journaling to maintain my sanity. I was even learning how to trust him for my earthly safety now that my father was gone.

Just a couple months before the two-year anniversary of my father’s death I met a man named Connor. We got along well that first night our friend groups came together, but I didn’t think anything more of it other than he was a nice guy. My friends, and him, however, thought more of it and he started to pursue me. I totally freaked out when I realized my friends were encouraging him without talking to me about it. I was all set with God, I was finally feeling normal again and was loving my time with him. What the heck did I need a man for? A guy was a recipe for further heartache, no thank you.

But God, in all his delightful humor and love, wouldn’t let it be. I could literally visualize a chalkboard next to God popping up with my list of my ideal man on it and see God checking off an item each time it came to light. Just like in those movies when the woman says something super witty and has verbally bested the man and the comic relief friend draws imaginary checkmarks in the sky to say she got him there. That’s what God was doing to me!

Man, I spent some time telling God what was what and asking what the heck was he doing bringing someone else into the fold with us! I thought we were all good! I wasn’t ready yet!

But my sweet Jesus knew better.

As the weeks went by and Connor pursued me, I would argue with God each time a checkmark was drawn. The biggest one, that admittedly I didn’t have on my list until I met Connor, was a man I respected. I was sitting in bed one night, unable to sleep when I sat up at the thought that I really respected him and how he treated me. It was unlike any other guy before, and I was amazed. Amazed that I had never before thought it should be a requirement that I respect the man I wanted to marry. I’m still in shock to this day and make sure to mention it every time it’s necessary when I talk with youth.

God knew that each item on my list meant something to my heart, whether it was newly added to the list or had been there from the very beginning. God knew each piece of my heart and everything that I needed to go through to be ready to meet Connor where he was at and meld together into one. God cared about the little things that became a big deal in the end. It was ultimately all for his glory.

Conclusion

God cares about the details of who you are and what happens in your life. He took his time creating you with infinite care and pouring into you the details needed for a life walking with him. He has counted and named the stars, counts the hairs on your head at every moment and knows the desires of your heart. Darling, trust that when God has put a desire in your heart and you’re living life in love with him, he will grant those desires.

God is most definitely in the details. Just ask for something small today, something true to your heart and his nature. Then look with expectancy to see him work and tell the world about it.

Prayer:

Sweet Jesus,

Thank you for caring about the details and knowing the desires of my heart. Thank you for taking great care when you created every last part of me. Thank you for all that you will continue to care about and bring about in my life. Please show me where you are working out the details in my life right now. I desire to delight in you and walk faithfully with you. Grant me the desires of Your heart, Lord.

Amen

---

Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. We encourage you to spend a full week dwelling on this devotional and all it has to offer you. That means you can save some of the scripture passages for another day or re-read them in the week. We also encourage you to take your time with the application portion. You can sit in each prompt until you feel God revealing his truths to you. Don’t rush, take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That's where your faith will grow.

Scripture for Deeper Study:

• Genesis 1-3

• Exodus 26

• Psalm 37

Application:

• Journal the ways in which God has already worked in the details of your life.

• Memorize one of the verses mentioned today that lit up your heart the most.

• Check your heart's desires. Are they out of selfish ambition and sinful desires or do they flow from God and his nature? Ask God to reveal your heart.

• If you need to make adjustments, then please ask God to change your heart and show you the correct mindset to have.