The little things of life
“But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Luke 12:7
You know so little of God, my reader, because you live at such a distance from God. You have . . .
so little communion with Him,
so little confession of sin,
so little searching of your own conscience,
so little probing of your own heart,
so little transaction with Him in the little things of life. You deal with God in great matters. You take great trials to God, great perplexities, great needs; but in the minutiae of each day’s history, in what are called the little things of life — you have no dealings with God whatever — and consequently you know so little of the love, so little of the wisdom, so little of the glory, of your resplendent covenant God and reconciled Father.
I tell you, the man who lives with God in little matters — who walks with God in the minutiae of his life — is the man who becomes the best acquainted with God — with His character, His faithfulness, His love. To meet God in my daily trials, to take to Him the trials of my calling, the trials of my church, the trials of my family, the trials of my own heart; to take to Him that which brings the shadow upon my brow, which rends the sigh from my heart — to remember it is not too trivial to take to God — above all, to take to Him the least taint upon the conscience, the slightest pressure of sin upon the heart, the softest conviction of departure from God — to take it to Him, and confess it at the foot of the cross, with the hand of faith upon the bleeding sacrifice — oh! these are the paths in which a man becomes intimately and closely acquainted with God!
Beloved, remember that all our past and all our coming prosperity, if indeed He shall so appoint it — is in the hand of God.
It is His wisdom that suggests our plans,
it is His power that guides, and
it is His goodness that makes them successful.
Every flower that blooms in our path,
every smile that gladdens it,
every mercy that bedews it,
comes to us from our heavenly Father.
Oh! for grace to recognize God in all our mercies!
How much sweeter will be our sweets,
how much more blessed our blessings,
how much more endeared our endearments
— to see them all dropping from the outstretched, munificent hand of a loving, gracious, and bountiful Father! Oh! for a heart lifted up in holy returns of love, gratitude and praise!
Octavius Winslow (1808 – 1878)
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