November 15, 2024
by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Psalm 8:3-4
WE OFTEN HEAR PEOPLE SAY, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Although sweating the small stuff can occasionally be a drag, there’s another side to that coin.
WE OFTEN HEAR PEOPLE SAY, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Although sweating the small stuff can occasionally be a drag, there’s another side to that coin. Greatness and the attention to detail, in my opinion, are welded together. A great piece of music is like that—carefully arranged orchestration carrying out a majestic melody blending with the surrounding sound of harmony. Haunting chords, rhythm, and lyrics. The choral group that performs is also committed to the fine line. Not much room for “don’t sweat the small stuff” philosophy.
A great piece of writing is equally a masterpiece of detail. Phrases are turned. Words are chosen, shaped, sometimes chiseled to dovetail into the precise meaning or description the author requires. And behind such exactness, such literary beauty? Creativity. Thought. Sweat. Trust me, a lot of sweat. Because great writing, like great music, comprises not only sweeping, broad-brush scenes but also small stuff, intricate details, which take time . . . so very much time.
Yet it’s so easy for us to sweat the small stuff, to the point of becoming debilitated by anxiety—paralyzed by worry.
A powerful antidote to that all-too-common struggle is rooted in the mystery of Creation:
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?
PSALM 8:3–4
Did you catch that detail? God stretched out the heavens and put the myriad of stars and planets and infinite galaxies in place with His fingers! No sweeping, jolting motions of the Godhead swaying and pushing unbounded segments of the universe into place to the point that when He was finished He sat back sweating and exhausted, His chest pounding, gasping for breath.
No, that’s how I would be after completing such a monumental task. God did it all with His fingers—like a sweet grandmother knitting a blanket for her granddaughter’s crib.
Whatever it is that has you sweating today, He’s got it covered. Yes, even the small stuff.