“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Luke 12:6-7 (RSV)
I think we all have a tendency to underestimate God’s interest in the details of our lives. It’s truthfully hard to process the fact that God would know the number of hairs on our head. After all, isn’t He far too high above to care about our smallest details ?
We tend to think that He cares about getting us to heaven, but has no interest in the minor day to day details of our lives. Yet, scripture, biology, astronomy and all of nature proves that God is in all the details.
The first five books of the Bible are filled with details of how to arrange and handle every sacred object on the altar of God’s temple; the menorah candlesticks, the holy bread of the Presence, the ark of the covenant, the incense and the various offerings. God had specific requirements about all these details, which shows that He cares about them.
If He cares about the details of the temple worship, He also cares about the details of our lives, because we are all temples of the Holy Spirit.
When God decided to become a man, He thought out all the details. He chose to be conceived in the womb of a woman. Not just any woman, but a Jewish woman, and not just any Jewish woman, He created Mary, with all the qualities and characteristics He wanted in the mother of His son. That requires a lot of attention to details.
Out of all the nations in the world to be born in, He chose a tiny area in the Middle East. Of all the various cultures, nations and races across the world, He chose to be born through Abraham’s lineage and genealogy, as a Jewish man in a Jewish land.
Not only did God select the mother and father who would raise His son, He cared enough to pick His name, and told Mary on the day He was conceived, to name Him Jesus.
It was part of His plan that Mary and Joseph raise this child devoutly Jewish, familiar with the writings of the law and the prophets, wearing the garment with tassels at the edge, and adhering to all the usual Jewish customs and observances. If God selected a culture filled with details for His one and only incarnation, then details matter to Him.
Even dates are details that matter to God. The Passover lamb was to be slain on the 14th of Nissan, roasted and eaten by a household with no leftovers. Historians and archeologists can verify that Jesus was crucified and died on the 14th day of Nissan. He became our eternal Passover lamb, even in the date that He died. It all shows that God plans and pays incredible attention to details and dates.
As I think about how fascinating every detail of His plans are, it’s no coincidence that an earthquake shook the area, the moment when Jesus died on that day. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, mentions that an earthquake coincided with the crucifixion. On April 3 in the year 33, which correlates to the 14th day of Nissan of the Hebrew calendar, geologists have evidence of seismic activity, located 13 miles from Jerusalem. This investigation was reported in International Geology Review.
How awesome that science, history, geology, astronomy and scripture all correlate to each other on the day Jesus died on the cross. God Almighty is in all the details, and when I find myself thinking that He doesn’t care about my details, my thinking is too small. God is big enough to know and care about each human being on this earth, and is willing to show Himself as the God of our details. Nothing is impossible for Him.
We were created to acknowledge Him in “all” our ways, because He already knows all of ours. He knows the current count of hairs on our head, at each and every moment of every day.
Lord God, thank you for creating all the details that provided for the gift of our salvation and atonement, through Jesus, who died for us. As your eye is on each sparrow, thank you for being in all the details of each of our lives today and always. Amen