The Lord Is In The Details

Just a while back I was reading about some of the people who were running late for work in New York city one Tuesday morning, September 11th, 2001. One man was the head of a large company but his son was new to kindergarten school and dad had to take extra time. Another person was running late because he remembered it was his turn to pick up the donuts. One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time. Darn alarm clocks! Another person got stuck in traffic on the NJ Turnpike because of an accident. I can almost picture him when he realizes that he’s going to be late, throwing up his hands in disgust maybe, or pounding on his steering wheel as he sat there in desperation, unable to even make the day’s first appointment. Another person missed the bus. One lady spilled some food on her clothes and had to take the time to change. Can you picture her frustration? Can you relate? Can you feel her blood pressure rising? There was a car that wouldn’t start. Don’t you just hate it when that happens!

Then there was this guy who had bought a brand new pair of shoes and put them on to wear for the first time that morning but, unfortunately, as he was making his way from one transit to another, he developed a blister and had to find a drugstore and buy a band-aid. That is why he is alive today. In fact, all of these people would be dead today if it weren’t for those terribly annoying circumstances that likely frustrated them to no end that morning.

It really makes you think though doesn’t it. It makes me think about what it really means to trust God. We often think it means to trust Him in big ways with big things but in reality it seems to be harder to trust Him with the little things. When someone lets us down, when we get stuck in traffic , when a small simple task unexpectedly takes a whole five minutes … all of life’s little annoyances that fill our days …

The other day I was doing some menial chore, and I can’t really remember what it was; brushing my teeth maybe or something like that, and something happened to make it a little more difficult. And before I was even conscious of the thought the words were out of my mouth – “nothing is ever easy”.

Is that the problem really? Or is the problem with me? Is the problem the fact that on a very basic level I think that I am in charge of my own life and that the goal is that everything should go the way I think it should – the easy way?

I wonder if we might be able to get a hold of this truth, that it might be likely that this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment and He wants me to trust Him in it. What do you think?