God's in the finer details too...

I am sure you have heard the saying, “The devil’s in the fine print” indicating often that contracts all seem to be OK until you read the details in the fine print at the end of the page or even next page.  Well, let me remind you that God is in the fine print, not just in Scripture, but also in our lives. 
I am sure you have heard it said that Scripture is “His – tory”.  In other words, from the Garden of Eden through to the Garden of Paradise, Scripture is all about God working through history to bring about the glory of His Name and the eternal salvation of His people.
During my recent time of being unwell I had cause to think about God’s care over us.  When you’re not well and struggling to regain your health, you may even wonder at times whether God is even aware of what is happening to you.   And before you know it, you become a little anxious and start asking, “Where is God’s healing hand when I need it?”  Yes, perhaps some of you are wondering why your Pastor would even admit to these things happening in his mind – well they do.  Thankfully, it is great to have a Christian spouse and Christian friends who can remind you at that time of the promises of God’s care for us, especially in Jesus Christ.   
Since I had some spare time while I was unwell, I listened to a sermon where the speaker reminded me that that God was in the finer details, not only of Scripture, but also of our lives.  This preacher was preaching on the book of Esther, and he quoted a verse… “That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and and read to him”(Esther 6:1). 
Notice the detail.  “That night” – it wasn’t the next night or the previous night, but “that night” the king couldn’t sleep. Notice also that the king didn’t ask for queen Esther to come to his side or even perhaps one of the girls that belonged to the harem at the king’s disposal to do a dance for him and help him sleep.  He asked for the record of his reign to brought and to be read to him.  We would probably think, “How boring”. 
But when we think about this, and we know the story of how Haman had that very night built some gallows to kill Mordecai the Jew, God had it all worked out already.  Not only could the king not sleep, he read about how Mordecai had exposed an assassination plot against the king years earlier and that the king had failed to honour him for it.
And how ironic, Haman who went to the king’s court early to arrange Mordecai’s hanging, ends up advising the king how the man the king delights in should be honoured.   Haman thought he was to be honoured, but then it turns out that Mordecai was to be honoured!  Read the book of Esther – twenty minutes and it’s done – great little book where God’s name is not mentioned – but He’s in the fine print everywhere.
It was a good reminder for me when I listened to be mindful that God may not always appear front and center in everything we do and see, but sometimes He is just working in the finer detail of our lives.  Doesn’t mean we always see it clearly.  Sometimes it takes a few days or even weeks or years to see His hand working in the finer details of life.  But rest assured, God is working behind the scenes and we just need to rest in the knowledge that He isn’t asleep.  He is so directing history, that not only will Jesus receive all the glory that is due to Him alone (Phil 2:9-11), He will also bring us His children safely to share in that glorious future.  Let’s be thankful that He is working in the finer details of our lives, even when it isn’t all that obvious to us.  JZ