Obadiah: All the Stuff

My dad had a formative conversation with me when I was very little. (I have no idea how old I was.) He told me that God was going to be with me everywhere I went no matter what. My question:

“Even in the bathroom?”

Yes, Obadiah, even in the bathroom. 

This has stuck with me my entire life.

Even with the homework.

Fast forward to Junior High and my Dad told me something else: He told me that I could ask God for help with my homework. He told me to put my hand on my homework and ask God to help me understand what I was studying and He would. (Google  Daniel 1:17. God helped Daniel with his homework.)

In the midst of these two things I began to realize something: God sees all the little stuff in my life and I can ask him for help with it. I can ask Him for help with my homework, my attitude, my marriage, my car trouble, my budget, my computer that isn’t working, my rent that needs paid– whatever it is, He sees it and we can ask Him to get involved. 

That’s mind blowing if you really think about it. The little thing in your life is something God can help with. 

Today, something else hit me: God is also here for the big things.

Even with international crises.

Part of my job here at Project 887 is to read the news and not all the news has been great lately. There is a large international crisis brewing between Russia and the Ukraine. It looks bad. Watching coverage of it this morning made me feel incredibly small. I kept thinking about just how powerless I am to affect something that big. Then it hit me:

I can pray about this. 

It almost felt too big to pray for. I’ve become so accustomed to the idea of asking God for help with my car or my homework or other “little things” that I kinda forgot He can do big things, too. I’ve spent time today praying for our world. Praying for the Ukraine. Praying for Russia. Praying for leaders. Praying for peace.

Thoughts and prayers. How cliche.

These days, if you say you’re praying for something (especially if you are foolish enough to mention it online) people just roll their eyes. My personal thought: people feel like praying is ineffective because we seldom actually do it. We say “I’ll pray for you” but we don’t actually do it. This makes prayer seem worthless but that’s like saying going to the gym is worthless when you never actually go.

What are my prayers worth?

What are my prayers worth? Well, according to James 5:16 (look that one up, too), my prayers are worth a bunch. So are yours. 

Take a look at your world. Where have you decided things are too small or too big for God to get involved? Check your preconceived notions at the door and start talking to Jesus about all of it: rent payments and border disputes. The big stuff. The small stuff. Let’s invite God into all of it and see what He’s got in mind.