Wednesday, January 28, 2009

"The Devil Is In The Details"

My grandmother on my dad's side, affectionately known as "Mama Betty" by all of her grandchildren, was one of the most interesting people that I have ever known. When I look back at my life, at all of the people God used to shape and mold me, she is near the top of the list!

I spent every moment of my childhood that I could at "Mama Betty and Preacher Grandaddy's" house. She was a woman who possessed very little by the world's standards, but she made more impact with a little than a lot of people have made with much. She believed that everything she had was a gift from God, and she never gave a second thought to using whatever she had to bless someone else.

The older I get, I find myself quoting things that I can remember her saying, even though I never remember a single time that she tried to "teach" me anything. I guess what I'm saying is that "her actions spoke so loudly, that I couldn't hear what she was saying"....that is another one of those things she used to say!

Another one of her sayings came to mind as I read from the Psalms this morning. She would say "the devil is in the details". Admittedly, as a child, I can't say I really understood what that meant. As I have become a man, I've seen that little saying in a whole new light!

Here is what I read this morning that grabbed me:

Psalm 37: 23-24
23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.24 Though they stumble, they will never fall,for the Lord holds them by the hand.

What a beautiful picture..... God delights in every detail of our lives. We may stumble, but we will NEVER fall, for God is holding us by our hands.

The "devil" may be in the details, but the details can also become God's delight if we can learn to trust Him with EVERYTHING. Do you ever find yourself frustrated by the details? Does one small bump in the road cause your day to take a turn for the worst?

Maybe our problem is that we aren't talking to God about the details. We don't want to "bother" Him with the little things, so our prayer life takes a more general approach. "God is great, God is good...." or "now I lay me down to sleep...." or "Lord help me to have a good day" may really be the depth of some of our prayers, but according to this verse, God really does care about the details. In fact He DELIGHTS in them.

Maybe if we talked to God more about the details, the devil would "get in" to something else!

Have a BLESSED day and Live for Jesus!

Whatever It Takes,
Chip

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