HE CARES ABOUT THE SMALL STUFF
Our God is a God of power and might and majesty. The wonders he performs are incomparable and they cannot be reproduced. From the crafting of this entire universe with a few simple words to the construction of a heavenly perfection that will never end and everything else in between, what our God does is awe-inspiring; it is breathtaking. And the Scriptures are filled with stories of his strength: both the terrifying and the glorious. Our Lord wiped out entire armies in a single night without a sword being drawn from its sheath; he sent such a tremendous flood on this world that it destroyed every living thing on the surface of this sinful earth; he threw fire down from heaven as punishment on evildoers. But our Lord also healed countless invalids by just saying the word; he revealed his majesty on the mountain in front of three of his disciples; he actually raised people from the grave who had been dead for days. Even through the prophet Elisha our Lord did some visibly extraordinary things: splitting the Jordan in half, giving life back to a little boy, striking every single Aramean soldier with blindness so that they were at the mercy of Elisha and the king of Israel… There are some impressive stories in Scripture that demonstrate the Lord’s power and authority. And he does these impressive things because he is an impressive God. He does big things because he is a big God. And it is almost overwhelming to think how utterly insignificant we are compared to such an awesome God and his indescribable glory.
But then we run into a story like the one at the beginning of 2 Kings 6. And although it’s a story that demonstrates the Lord’s ability to do anything at any time no matter how impossible it may seem; it’s also a story that doesn’t seem all that impressive. It’s a miracle, but it’s a small miracle when compared to all of the other grand things that the Lord has done. Because what the Lord deals with in this story seems so irrelevant, so trivial and minor that it’s strange to us that the Almighty Lord would even bother with it, that he would even waste his time. But he does. The Lord does bother with this seemingly unimportant matter. He does take time to make it right. Because our grand and glorious Lord cares even about the small stuff.
The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." And he said, "Go." Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" "I will," Elisha replied. And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!" The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.
That’s it! There are no more details after this last verse. And a story like this makes me smile a little bit and shake my head. No one’s life was on the line here; there was no disease that was asked to be cured; there was no extreme hunger that needed to be satisfied or an enemy that had to be stopped. It was a borrowed ax that accidentally fell into the water! It was a mistake; a little unfortunate maybe, but nothing too serious. The man who borrowed it could have bought another one or the lender himself could have passed it off as no big deal and decided not to require any reimbursement. Whatever the case, both individuals could have relatively easily gotten past this little episode and continued on with their lives. And so why would the Lord bother with it? Why would he give his prophet Elisha the ability to make this ax head float to the top of the water when Elisha certainly had more pressing needs to attend to? The Lord took care of this minor problem because he cares! He cares about his children and so he cares about the small stuff in their lives; he cares about the little things! Even about a borrowed ax that falls into the water! He is concerned with every little thing that happens in the lives of his children. There is nothing too small for him to be bothered with.
Which is a lot different than what we’re used to, isn’t it? In this life most people don’t want to be bothered with every little thing. An employer expects his employees to handle certain things without his supervision or micromanagement. A leader of any government or the head of an organization delegates responsibilities to various people and only wants a summary report when it’s all said and done. Our church council is made up of different positions so that the daily tasks of this congregation can be carried out apart from the constant oversight by one individual. Parents want their children to learn how to do things on their own as quickly as possible so they don’t have to do it for them. There are plenty of little things in this life that most people don’t want to be bothered with because they don’t have the patience or because they simply don’t have the time.
But not the Lord. He doesn’t mind being bothered with the little things because there is nothing that he considers as being “underneath” him. There is nothing that he doesn’t have time to take care of. He even wants to deal with those small problems. He wants to lend a hand when his help is needed. Like a doting grandmother over her only grandchild, he is just waiting to help. He is watching for any opportunity in which he can give some sort of assistance to the ones he loves. And if that means performing a spectacular miracle so mind boggling that it makes knees tremble, then so be it. And if that means helping one of his own with something as simple as finding an ax head in a river, then so be it. Our Lord cares about the small stuff because he cares about you.
Isn’t it amazing that such an imposing God who reigns in unparalleled glory would care about someone like you? And that he would care about every little inconsequential thing that happens to you in your life? The Maker of the majesty of the mountains watches you as you make your bed every morning. The Leader of the mighty angels walks silently along with you as you lead your child across the street. The Holy One of the heavens who sits on his magnificent throne with everything at his feet pays close attention when you fall to your knees in your evening prayers. Our Lord is not only the director of the laws of nature and the stars and the planets and the innumerable galaxies that we have yet to find; he is also the caretaker of your everyday life. He is not just a “big picture” God. He is not just a “visionary” of some kind who is only concerned about the final outcome and lets the minor details work themselves out. No, our Almighty Lord cares about the small stuff too. Every detail, every joy, every worry, every hurt, every smile, every minute of every day. Our Lord cares; our Lord pays attention and watches over; our Lord takes a special interest in every little thing about you.
Do you return the favor? Do you always care about what he wants? Do you always pay attention to and watch out for his happiness? Do you take a special interest in every little thing he says and every little thing he does and every little thing he promises? Or do you get too caught up in your own life to notice anything else? Do you get so involved with the various problems and joys and the general craziness that your life is made up of that you forget about the Lord sometimes? If you do, that makes at least two of us! I set the Lord and his will aside sometimes when things get busy. Even as someone who is blessed to have an occupation that forces me into God’s Word on a daily basis, my thoughts and my attitudes are not always focused on the directions and the encouragements of his Word. I don’t always care about what our Lord wants because there are plenty of things I want for myself. I don’t always pay attention to or watch out for his happiness because there are plenty of things that I want to make myself happy. I don’t always pay attention to every little thing he says or does or promises because there are so many other little things (and big things!) that I think I have to take care of every day. And so there are times when I get so caught up with the little things that I have to do that I lose focus of even the big things that the Lord has already done for me.
And isn’t that typical of any sinful human being on this earth? We are so absorbed in ourselves; we are so concerned about what we want and about how we feel and about what we think should happen, that what the Lord has done for us and what the Lord is doing for us right now and what the Lord promises to do for us in the future doesn’t even cross our minds half the time. Our Lord doesn’t even enter into the equation on many of the decisions we make because we are so thoroughly selfish. He dedicates all of his time to us but we can barely find any time to spend on him. He never sleeps just so that he can watch over us but he only enters our minds if we actually remember to say our prayers that night. Our Lord does nothing but work everything out in this world for the good of our eternal welfare but we hardly do anything that is only and completely for him without some sort of selfish motive attached to it. We do not return the favor. We do not fully commit ourselves to our Lord as he has committed himself to us. We do not deserve his attention or his kindness or his never-failing love.
And so why does he do it? Why does he bother with people like us? Why does he spend so much time not only preserving us in this world but also taking care of even the small stuff in our lives? Our Lord cares even about the small stuff in our lives because he made such a big sacrifice to win our lives back. Don’t forget that our Lord underwent a tremendous amount of physical pain and emotional torment and psychological agony just to make you one of his own. He fought for you! He battled for you! He forfeited his very life for you! He gave up everything he had on so that he could give it all to you. And so you better believe that he cares about you now! After everything he went through to secure your salvation, after all of the blood that poured out of his body to heal your self-inflicted wounds, after all of the rejections he suffered from his own people and his own disciples and even his own heavenly Father, you can be sure that he will concern himself with even the small stuff in your life now. He earned you, after all! You are his! You are the most precious thing he owns. He does not want anything bad to happen to you in any way and so he is more than happy to help you out regardless of how little the problem might seem to be. He did not just die on the cross to leave you to fend for yourself. He died on the cross and rose from the grave so that he could forever hold you in his nail-ridden hands.
And so when something happens in your life, no matter how trivial, remember the cross and take it to the Lord in prayer. When you run into a problem, no matter how simple a fix it might seem to be, remember the cross and carry it to the Lord for his help. When you become aware of how selfish you have acted once again, so selfish that it’s even embarrassing to admit, remember the cross and throw your sins at the feet of your Lord to be drenched in his blood. Because when you think about the cross you will be reminded of all the big things he has already done for you. You will be reminded about the forgiveness and the salvation and the eternal life that are already yours. You will be reminded about the reason why the Lord cares about the small stuff in the first place. Your eternal life is important to the Lord. And so your everyday life is important to him too.
The man who had lost that borrowed ax in the Jordan River must have understood that to some extent. Notice that didn’t try to wade in after it. He didn’t try to fish it out in some other way or go to someone else for assistance. He went straight to Elisha, the man of God. This man didn’t think it too trivial a matter for the Lord to handle. He didn’t assume that the Lord would just say, “Tough luck, deal with it yourself.” This man acted as if knew that the Lord cared at least a little bit about his life and was hoping that the Lord might help him solve this problem in some way.
You will lose a few ax heads in the water throughout your life too – borrowed or otherwise. You will face some troubles; you will have to deal with some difficulties; you will be presented with various problems of varying degrees. But no matter how big or how small they may be: bring everyone of them to your Lord. He wants to be bothered with it all. He wants to be the one you can always count on. He wants to be the one you can always go to. Go to him. He will not turn you away. He will not let you down.
Amen.
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” - Psalm 68:19
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