I’ve heard quotes like these for years:
There is no problem so big that God is not bigger still. There is no issue so small that God does not care about it.
God is so big that the universe cannot contain Him, yet He is so small He can fit inside your heart.
But they’re just words until you see them in action.
This past Saturday, Justice Network (my organization that raises awareness about human trafficking) hosted a food truck festival. It was our first effort to put on an event like this. We partnered with my home church and enlisted co-sponsorship from our state Coalition. But the work of planning, preparing, publicity, and so much more was handled by a small group of six. We called ourselves the “ninja team.” My husband called us the “High Mountain Core of Engineers”.
Throughout the process of creating the event, we did our research and solicited advice (some of which was conflicting and confusing), but throughout it all, we prayed. We prayed for the big things and the small things and everything in between.
One of my “silly” prayers (or so I thought) was a specific prayer for the length of the lines at the food trucks. We needed a delicate balance – lines too short meant that the food trucks would not make enough money for it to be worthwhile for them – lines too long meant that people would leave hungry and dissatisfied. And so I prayed for the number of people on line. Specifically that it would be between 3-6 people at a time.
I felt a little foolish praying for such an inane topic. After all, we were raising awareness about the critical issue of human trafficking – modern day slavery! We were raising money for scholarships for survivors of human trafficking! We were witnessing the church of Christ working like a healthy body should – everyone doing their part like eyes and hands and feet! We were connecting with our community on a level that had not been done before! So many concerns of such great consequence.
As I looked around that day, there was so much to be thankful for – so many prayers that God was answering.
Including the number of people on each line!
Throughout the event, I continually walked and talked with attendees, craft table vendors, food truck vendors, the band members, and information table representatives. And I kept a watchful eye on the food truck lines. And at no time was any line too long, and more importantly, we had a steady stream of attendees – an estimated 600 people!
Lesson learned!
It’s not the size of the prayer that counts – it’s WHO I’m praying to that counts! Any other way of looking at it is a deception from the devil who would have us think that God assesses our requests with some kind of eternal measuring tool, ranking prayers with levels of importance.
Does Scripture say, “Thou shalt not bother the Lord with requests of small importance!”?
Our Aunt Anna used to pray for a parking space, help going up her steps, finding missing items. Nothing that was of concern to her was kept from her Savior. Corrie ten Boom said, “Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”
And God commands us to bring EVERYthing to Him. This instruction is not a suggestion:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYthing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”Phil 4:6
We may offer prayers to which God says no. Our requests may be inappropriate, immature, self-centered. Our prayers may be off target to God’s will. But, in the eyes of God, there is no prayer too small or insignificant.
Is there anything that you haven’t brought to God because you think (even if subconsciously) that the problem is too small to bother God with? Well, right now, kick the enemy out of your head, and place yourself before the Lord.
BTW – We even made the news! For more info about the event, visit our post at Justice Network.
