"Thank you God for helping me find parking!"
On passing a test, "God is great!"
"If I get through this, all glory to You!"
"My washing machine broke down, and I prayed, and it started back up right away! God is so good!"
Comments like these does tend to pop up on my Facebook newsfeed, and I do overhear them in conversations. Don't get me wrong; I don't think there's anything wrong in thanking God for even the small things in life; we should. After all, Malaysian parking is so rare, they might as well call it an urban legend. I mean, after all, exams are so major - they define where you go and what you do for the rest of your life. My concern is just this: if the small things are all we thank God for and ask God for, aren't we turning Him into our personal secretary whose sole reason of existence is to solve problems for us? Aren't we making God a little too small than He actually is? Aren't we conveniently forgetting the Big Thing too?
So you didn't find parking. Is God less kind? So let's just say you failed your exam, or botched that crucial presentation. Is God less great? You didn't get through that rough spot in life as unaffected as you would like to. Does God get less glory? Your washing machine caught fire instead. Is God less good?
So you didn't find parking. Is God less kind? So let's just say you failed your exam, or botched that crucial presentation. Is God less great? You didn't get through that rough spot in life as unaffected as you would like to. Does God get less glory? Your washing machine caught fire instead. Is God less good?
God is kind, great, and glorified, not because He solved your parking woes, or helped you through your exam. He is kind, great, and glorified because He himself, the God of Justice, became man so that he could bear his own terms of punishment for our rebellion against him, so that whomever trusted in His work of redemption on the cross didn't have to suffer that punishment, be declared right and gain adoption into His family. And all this the Father did, ultimately not for us, but for his Son, for their own glory, for
'He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.'
(Col 1:15-17)
We merely are but enjoying fringe benefits of the Father's love towards the Son.
When Paul writes to the church in Philippi, he writes to a church under severe persecution. Yet he tells them: 'rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.' (Phil 4:4-7) The reason Paul can so boldly tell them this is because they know that they've got the Big Problem settled - their impending judgement and eternal punishment for rebelling against the Ruler of the Universe has been dealt with. Therefore, even if they die in the most excruciating way possible (the Roman soldiers of the day were pretty good at that), they can rejoice and give thanks.
So, keeping that in mind, let's give thanks, both for the small things, and the Big Thing, with the Big Thing informing how we give thanks and pray for the small things.
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