Remember when you were heading out of town and your children were small? What did you do? You left a list for the babysitter or the Grandparent. A long list, a very detailed list. You expected the caregiver to follow that list and pay attention to every detail. We worry when we leave a loved one or a child in the care of someone else. We want things done right, routines to remain the same while we are absent.
We have all just come from a Christmas season full of details. Are you exhausted? We turn right around to the details of putting it all away in an organized manner for next year. Sometimes when we are in the middle of the execution it doesn’t seem like anyone cares about the details except for us. The menu prep, polishing silver, pulling out the china and the crystal, the linens, making sure each person in your family likes at least one food item on the menu, ordering special items like cakes and pies. I’m not even going into the detail of this meal clean up!!!
God loves details. To some readers of the Bible, it may seem there were no details for the birth place of Jesus. We are all limited in our understanding of God’s ways. It’s all in our perspective of God and how we see Him. I long to see His goodness and understand His ways. I love to point out His attention to the details in my life. One would think that our Newborn King would be born in a palace amid beautiful servants and clean, soft linens for Him to be swaddled in. Not so. The Word says Mary laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inn. (Luke 2:7)
Suppose Jesus had been born in a palace high on a hill, unreachable by common man? Born a king by human standards who could only be reached by the wealthy and noble, the few. This would cause a gap, a separation of man from the Son of God. Jesus came to fill the gap, to tear the veil which separated sinful man from God. He came to us in the lowliest of states so that we could all reach Him. Imagine the difference in your approach to a shepherd versus a king. Most of us don’t have access to a king but we all have access to a shepherd. It’s all in the details.
It’s a New Year. Last night on the 700 Club there was a story about resolutions and how to eat right in 2015. The story pointed out the obvious, the American addiction to sugar and how we need to “watch” our intake. Many eat as much as 25 teaspoons of sugar a day, some more. I thought that sounded like a lot until this morning when I ate 4 do-nuts in the car. There lay at least 25 teaspoons of sugar in my stomach. What will you be “watching for” this year?
We have access to Jesus on a daily basis. His death closed the gap and covered our sin so we can enjoy fellowship with the Father. We can read God’s details in the Word. We can choose to notice the details of His hand in our lives. I think that’s a good New Year’s Resolution. You may feel He doesn’t know where you are right now or that He doesn’t understand what you are going through. Do you feel He is absent from your life? Or is it that you are absent from Him because of your lack of communication with Him? He is there, He is working on the details and eventually you will see it, be certain of that.
I watched the hand of God in my details over Christmas break. My oldest daughter had a tonsillectomy the first day of her holiday. Several days later she “bled out” and had emergency surgery within a few short hours. At the moment she began bleeding—at that very moment—I was on the phone with her doctor who had called to check in on her. The interesting thing was that I was trying to get an additional medicine for her nausea and was on the phone with another doctor in that same practice. Who ever has 2 doctors on the phone at the same time? Her doctor knew something just wasn’t right. It was after hours, it was New Year’s Eve yet he was still at his office. Hmmm. We rushed there and then we all rushed to the hospital. Her doctor was with us every moment even while she was stuck with needles trying to get a successful IV. His presence calmed her and me. How fortunate we were to be with our doctor and not an unknown from the ER. We saw every detail. God makes the best of a bad situation. It ended up being a late night, we rung in the New Year in Room 319.
Make this a year to give thanks for God’s goodness, give Him the glory He deserves, make a list of the things you are grateful for. Stop the pity party and rejoice in Him because He cares for YOU.