Small Needs

After the Bible study I gave last week on praying for all our needs, no matter how small, one woman took sharp issue with me.

“Asking for small things is being selfish,” she remonstrated, “and self-centered prayers just aren’t answered. I think we should pray only about spiritual needs. Besides, the God who runs the universe can’t be bothered with individual wishes.”

I could only reply that this was not Jesus’ viewpoint as presented in the Gospels: both by teaching and by action, He impressed upon us that no one need is too trivial for His attention.

I’ve combed Scripture for examples and there are many. Such as: the wine needed at the wedding feast (John 2:1-11); a dying sparrow (Matthew 10:29); a lost lamb (Luke 15:3-7).

These vignettes, scattered through the Gospels like little patches of gold dust, say to us, “No creaturely need is outside the scope of prayer.”

As if to emphasize the same thought, the apostle Paul adds: "Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition [definite requests] with thanksgiving continue to make your wants known to God." (Philippians 4:6)

Now obviously not all our human wants are genuine needs. Moreover, we are often so selfish and shortsighted that granting of some wants would not be good for us. But I believe that Scripture invites us to talk over all our concerns and dreams with our Father, and then leave the outcome to His wisdom.

Just before Christmas, we had a wonderful example of His loving involvement in the everyday-ness of life. My son, Peter, was laboring to build an elaborate miniature horse stable for his daughter, Mary Elizabeth. Hour after hour, he closed himself in the basement putting it together. Especially time consuming was the process of covering the roof with tiny shingles of almost paper thin plywood. As the laborious work of positioning and gluing proceeded, it became apparent that he was going to run out of shingles.

Peter called all manner of hobby stores in the area. Nobody had any. He even called the company in Texas that made the shingles. Yes, they could get them to him in time by special plane service for about $100. Too costly.

Finally, Peter found a hobby store up the road that had half of one package. The owner’s wife had been using them for some project and had that many left. This was still not enough to complete the roof, but Peter decided to pick up those that were available.

As he drove off, I breathed a quiet little prayer about this. Immediately I had a mental picture – a little drama really – of Peter walking into the hobby store and the owner saying, “I have a surprise for you. I found another package of those shingles.”

Peter came back home beaming. What I had “seen” as I prayed was exactly what happened. He had more than enough to finish the roof.

A very small prayer request for what many would consider a superficial need. Yet this little episode gave all of us a heartwarming glimpse of the Father’s careful provision for the small details of our lives – and of the adventure he means each moment in His world to be!