Counteracting the Lies We’ve Believed (Part 3)
Truth #3: God really cares about the details of your life.
Because my father died before I was born and I did not have a father-daughter relationship, for years my image of God was a distant God who didn’t concern himself with the day-to-day of my life. I thought he’d only get close when He needed to issue some holy discipline to keep me in line—and that was a lot!
However, this thought process was a lie. As my relationship with my heavenly Father evolved, I realized that He cares more about the details of my life than I realized. In Luke 12:7, it says the hairs on our head are numbered and in Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry because God will take care of our basic needs, just as He feeds the birds of the air. Our heavenly Father cares about the intricacies of our day-to-day and wants to provide the desires of our heart.
This weekend I spoke at a women’s retreat in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado. The retreat was on a YMCA property like no YMCA I’ve ever seen before. Lots of cabins, hotel-quality lodges and bunkhouses were nestled in a beautiful mountainous setting.
The church I served was my college roommate Debbie’s congregation so I was in the car with her when we arrived at the YMCA property.
All day long, Debbie had been saying, “We’ll probably see some elk while we’re at Estes Park.” My eyes were peeled for elk because I’d never seen one up close, but on our drive up we never encountered any elk, and even after spending all day touring around Estes Park there were no elks making an appearance, except the manufactured ones in the stores. As we entered the YMCA encampment, I said with disappointment, “We’ve never seen the elk.”
Then we got really lost.
It’s a sprawling place.
We searched for our lodge with no luck.
After wandering aimlessly on the property, we ended up on one road where I some large animals off to the right. I asked, “Are those horses? Debbie exclaimed, “Those are elk!” Then we realized it wasn’t just a few elk, it was an entire herd of elk, and they were also in front of us blocking the road as they crossed.
Here’s what I believe. My loving heavenly Father heard this desire of my heart and allowed us to get lost so he could show off in a big way. If we’d gone straight to our lodge, we would have never seen the elk. Instead, he led us to an entire herd and we were given an up close view of another one of His beautiful creations.
I believe our Abba Daddy is like that. When we follow Him, He provides these loving gifts, both large and small, along the way because He cares about the details. I am so glad I no longer believe the lie that God is not concerned about me intimately. That is farthest from the truth. He desires intimacy with all of us and finds ways to show that He is with us, every step of the way.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26).