Nothing Is Too Small
for God’s Attention

A compilation

The word coincidence is used only once in the New Testament, and it was by Jesus Himself in the parable of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10:31, Jesus said, “And by a coincidence a certain priest was going down in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side.” The word coincidence is translated from the Greek word synkyrian, which is a combination of two words: sun and kurios. Sun means “together with,” and kurious means “supreme in authority.” So a biblical definition of coincidence would be “what occurs together by God’s providential arrangement of circumstances.”

What appears to us as random chance is in fact overseen by a sovereign God who knows the number of hairs on every head.¹ Jesus said that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s notice.² In Isaiah 46:9–11, God states unequivocally that He is in charge of everything: “I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.”

When we consider life events, we tend to classify them as “important” or “unimportant.” Many people have no problem believing that God is in charge of the “big things” but assume that such a big God would not trouble Himself with the seemingly minuscule events of our everyday lives. However, that understanding is colored by our human limitations and not supported by Scripture. For God, there are no unimportant events. He does not need to conserve His strength, because His power is limitless. His attention is never divided. If the Lord God tracks every sparrow,³ then nothing is too small for His attention. He is often referred to as the Almighty,⁴ a name denoting unrestricted power and absolute dominion.

Citing coincidence is how we humans explain unexpected events and surprise meetings. But just because we are taken by surprise does not mean that God is. Scripture is clear that God allows sinful humans to make mistakes and reap the consequences of those mistakes, but only a sovereign God could also promise that He will make “all things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”⁵ In ways known only to God, He takes even our mistakes and unplanned events and weaves them together to fulfill His purposes.

In Old Testament times, God often used the Urim and Thummim, pieces of the high priest’s ephod, to help give guidance and instruction.⁶ In the New Testament, we see the apostles trusting God’s sovereignty when they cast lots to choose a new disciple to replace Judas.⁷ Though each of these means of communication seems insignificant, God has shown throughout Scripture that He can use the smallest object or event for His purposes. God does not seem to allow for “coincidence.” The administration of the universe is not based on serendipity. The Bible says that God’s purposes will prevail and that He is in control of even the most random event.⁸ Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” What may seem insignificant to us may be in fact a result of God’s omniscient power working on our behalf to accomplish His will in our lives.—From gotquestions.org⁹

*

Just recently I saw such a wonderful answer to prayer when faith was exercised. A little woman had come to the door of our cottage selling something. But just at the same time she came, Reverend Gardner of the First Baptist Church came to call upon me, just a friendly call. When he had just come in through the front door, another pastor, of the little church around the corner, knocked on the back door, and here we were, four people brought together. I didn’t know the woman that had come to the front door, selling something, and she was suddenly stricken very, very ill.

I asked the two men, both ministers of God, to pray with me for her, and so we prayed earnestly. One of the pastors put his dear hand on her head, and suddenly she looked up with the strangest look after we had ceased praying, and she said, “You know, this is a miracle! This is the most wonderful thing that has happened!” She said, “I suddenly got so very ill and dizzy, I felt I was going to faint. I’ve had awful headaches. I’ve always had them, and I was having the most terrible headache, and I haven’t been able to move my head to the right side. I just could move it a little ways, and then I couldn’t move it any further.” But she said: “You see how I can move my head? And my headache is gone!” You know that woman has never had a headache since then; she’s never had any of that stiffness in her neck since then.

Now, it isn’t so much that healing, that wonderful healing and how instantly God took care in that case; it isn’t that so much I want to mention as the fact that God in His mercy brought these people all together. Those two ministers came unexpected; they didn’t know each other. I didn’t know the woman, but God had it planned for us to come together, just like that.

I was telling that to a group one afternoon, and a scientist was in the group, and he said with some disgust, “You don’t mean to tell me that you really believe that God stoops down for a little group of people like that? That God was so interested that He’d bring one pastor in one door and another in the other, and then bring this woman in there, He was that much interested in one human being? I don’t think that woman was that important to God.”

I said, “Well, I believe it. And I’m just as important to God as that one little sparrow that Jesus talked about, that ‘not one sparrow falls but the heavenly Father knows it!’ Do you know that even the hairs of your head are numbered, and the Lord knows what the number is?”¹⁰ Then I continued: “You talk about the atom being an active creative force in the universe! Well, faith is in the spiritual world as an active creative force which produces effects and brings mighty things to pass just the same.

“Mix together three things—sincere prayer, simple faith, and the power of God—and you’ve got a mightier force than the atom! Just because faith isn’t in the natural realm or in the realm of sense, it isn’t any less active in the universe.” I don’t think he was convinced at all, but I want to tell you that I’m convinced, beloved.—Virginia Brandt Berg

*

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.—Psalm 139:2¹¹

*

You never know what your day will bring when you work in healthcare.

When I take care of patients, I don’t really expect to see anything extraordinary from God. I’m a nursing assistant, and my job is to aid the nurse in caring for patients recovering from joint surgery. After all, it’s healthcare.

One night, the evening shift is going as usual, and patients are all doing well, but the workload stacks up in the surgery center across the hall. It’s unusual for them to call me for help this late in the evening, but that’s exactly where my night takes a turn.

Feeling a bit put-out about having to leave my comfort zone, I roll up my sleeves, take a deep breath and begin. My first task is to bring a patient down in a wheelchair to surgery pickup at the back of the building.

We make it down to the vehicle, and I wish them well. Turning to push the wheelchair back to the door, I notice a man walking toward me from his station wagon piled with linen.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he says, “I need to find out where to deliver these blankets.”

As I explain where to deliver the load, I consider how strange this situation is. It just so happens I’m the only person in the building who knows what linen we ordered and where to bring it.

In a thankful spirit, he tells me, “I whispered a prayer that God would send someone to help me because I didn’t know where to go.”

Well, guess what? God sent me at this exact moment in this exact place where he needed the help.

Friend, God sees us and knows our situations—just like He knows the predicament the linen delivery man faced. Not only does He see it, but God cares about it. As He reminds us in Psalm 139:2, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

God cares enough about the delivery man’s prayer to pull me out of my normal duties and bring me to surgery pickup in the back of the building. Just so I can help him find his way. Do you think God cares just as much about you and me?

God is not distant, but close. He reaches down as we lift our eyes up to Him. He is our help and our deliverer who moves mountains (or people) as we whisper a prayer.

The way God moves is mysterious and is certainly not at our every whim. But earnest prayers are dear to God’s heart, just like the whisper of a daughter to her loving dad.

That night I found wonder in the fact that God moves in our lives when we least expect it and that we get to be a part of His plan! I wonder what He will do next!—Mary Peterson¹²

Published on Anchor May 2019. Read by Jerry Paladino.

Posted in: audio, compilation, encouragement, faith, following god

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