This is the itinerary of the nation of Israel from the time Moses and Aaron led them out of Egypt.
Numbers 33: 1 (LB)
Scripture: Numbers 33: 1-14
The Bible is filled with what we would consider small details. That emphasizes the reality that God is interested in every aspect of our lives. This devotion looks at how He wants to be God of the little things as well as God of the big things and how we can make sure He is.
It is hard for me to read the Old Testament sometimes. There were this many people.
They battled this king. They had this many fighting men, and the king had this many. They won so they got this much loot.
Then they offered a specified number of sacrifices in ever how many different sacrificial ways. Then they moved on and went here, there and yonder.
Such detail. And you know that has to be the way it happened because it is in several different books. Do we really need to know all the dimensions, numbers and road maps?
You bet. Why? It shows us that God is interested in the little things as well as the big things.
There is no detail too small in our lives that God isn’t interested in it. He wants total control of our lives, not just the major events. Everything is important to Him.
Start Small
But think of it this way. What trips us up? Usually, it starts out as little things – probably things we don’t even notice.
What was that story I read once? How to catch wild animals??? Put up one side of the fence first. Let them get used to that. Then put up the second side. After they are used to that, put up the third side. They don’t even notice they are getting boxed in – until you put up the fourth side of the fence.
Then they can’t get out. But it’s too late.
No, they didn’t agree to captivity. Doesn’t matter. They are fenced in.
Get Them Used to It
I’ve heard it another way. Let the frog swim in the pot of water. Slowly increase the fire under the pot until it is boiling. Again – too late.
What is the common denominator in those stories? Familiarity? Complacency? Status Quo? Evolution? Tolerance?
I am sure which word you would choose would depend a lot on if you were building the fence or being caged.
How many fences have been built in this country because we let a little thing grow into a big thing?
So, Little Things Aren't Always Little
Maybe the little things trip us up because they aren’t really all that little. The aspects that we think God won’t care about, that we can handle ourselves, or that aren’t important in the grand scheme of things is where Satan is going to attack us.
Satan is really good at finding our weak spot. He is also really good at slowly building fences around us or slowly turning up the heat.
That is one reason why God wants to be God of the little things. He wants us to rely on Him to support us when Satan starts building and cooking.
All of Us
God wants to be Master of our whole selves – mind, body and soul. He doesn’t want us to keep certain areas of our sinful nature. He wants us to turn everything over to Him. “You must love him with all of your heart, soul, and might” (Deut. 6: 5 LB emphasis added).
We humans put a lot of emphasis on our hearts and love. We love everything from someone else to ice cream to our dog. Does that really give us a clear idea of what love is?
We think the heart is the center of our emotions. God wants that. He wants our love, our anger, our joy, our hurt.
We don’t have to hide our emotions from Him. We don’t have to pretend to be happy when we approach Him.
God wants us to be real with Him. He wants to be real to us.
The heart can also represent our physical body. Once the heart stops beating, the rest of the body dies.
God wants all of our outward expressions. He wants our actions and our deeds.
God wants our soul. He wants who we really are deep down, not the façade we put up for ourselves and others to see. He wants our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations. He wants who we are and who we want to become.
God wants our minds. He wants to be the center of our thoughts. He wants us to use His Word to think through all of our decisions we make. He wants us to use what we learn to further his kingdom.
We may not feel we have enough story line to fill a book of the Bible (okay, several books). But God wants our life stories.
How Do We Apply This?
We have to step out in faith. We have to believe that God is big enough and kind enough to want what is best for us – and that He can fulfill every promise He has made for us.
We have to find out what love really is – God’s love, not the world’s love. First John 4: 7 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God …” (NIV). It is a pure, true love.
Then we have to focus on God and His ways. Yes, I am going to say it again. (I don’t know who hasn’t read the previous devotions – and sometimes we have to hear things multiple times.) Read your bible. Pray. Fellowship with other believers.
Give up trying to understand everything. We aren’t god. God is God. We aren’t going to figure everything out.
God wants us to depend on Him to sustain us. All we really have to do is believe. He will do the rest.
Heavenly Father. We are not worthy enough for You to spend so much effort on us. Yet You made the ultimate sacrifice for us – You sent Your Son to die for us. Lord, we want to dedicate every aspect of our being to You. It’s hard, though. Satan wants us to keep parts of us for himself. Show us those parts that are still sinful. Help us to turn the over to You. We dedicate ourselves to You. Amen.
What do you think? Why do you seem to keep control of the little stuff? What can you do to give God control of all of you? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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