Seek Him in Big and Small Things

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. —Proverbs 3:6, KJV

This is a wonderful proverb and a wonderful promise. “All your ways” refers to anything pertaining to us. Some people worry that they should not bother God with small things. But as Pastor Jim Cymbala puts it, “Don’t worry about bringing small things to God, for with God everything is small!” It is much easier to bring the more difficult requests to God when we are in a daily habit of bringing everything to Him already.

One of the saddest moments in the life of Joshua came when the Gibeonites lied to and deceived Joshua and the Israelites. (See Joshua 9.) Before he died, Moses had warned the Israelites: “Make no treaty” with any of the inhabitants of Canaan (Deut. 7:1-2). But the Gibeonites ingeniously manipulated their way into Joshua’s good graces, and before he realized what was happening, “Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath” (Josh. 9:15). Soon afterward they realized they had been tricked. “But all the leaders answered, ‘We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now'” (v. 19). Israel had the problem of the Gibeonites on their hands for years and years.

These difficulties happened because the Israelites “did not inquire of the Lord” (v. 14). Although they had the faithful means of knowing God’s will at their fingertips, they bypassed this process and moved on without Him.

We do the same thing when we do not talk to God about everything. Everything. I have done things like accepting invitations and engagements I should have declined—all because I said yes too rashly. Often, when the time came to fulfill these obligations, I had to say, “Why did I agree to this?” I now pray more carefully over every little opportunity that comes my way.

It does not follow that every single time I fail to know God’s will clearly, He lets me do something stupid. He has graciously overruled my haste thousands of times and bailed me out—or mercifully led me along. But I have now lived long enough to take seriously the matter of seeking the Lord earnestly and constantly in the big things and the small things.

Excerpted from The Sensitivity of the Spirit (Charisma House, 2002).