In one of the novels I was recently reading, a girl wants something very badly, and the author says “she wished (for she wouldn’t call it ‘praying,’ which she instinctively knew should be reserved for very special needs)” (The Wizard of London, Mercedes Lackey). 

Now this is not an author I would ever take spiritual advice from; she does not claim to be a Christ-follower. However, I think that this idea that prayer is only for things that are somehow important enough to be prayed about is a misconception we find among Christians as well. Even when we pay lip service to the notion that we can (and should) pray about everything, we often don’t pray about the “little” things.

This reluctance to pray about things we see as little can come from a lot of different places. Those of us who are Americans were raised in a very do-it-yourself culture. Even though “God helps those who help themselves” is not biblical, many of us were raised on that phrase. We believe that we shouldn’t start praying until we’ve done all that we could do in our power. When we do this, we are trying to use God as the hero who rides in to save the day at the end of every episode. But that’s not what God is willing to be for us. He offers us a relationship to walk with him in everything. He’s not looking to be the superhero who comes in only when all is lost. He is our savior, but that was a one time act. One we have accepted that gift, he becomes our helper and comforter, intending to interact with us on a continual basis. Relegating God to the role of occasional hero is missing the point entirely.

We may be reluctant to pray about things we see as small simply because God is so great. We sometimes think he wouldn’t care about this little thing that matters to us but doesn’t have an impact on our ministry, or maybe even an impact on anyone else in the world. It’s hard to believe that the creator of the universe actually cares about me, but he has said that he does. “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 ESV)

I like to tell the story of one of the little things that mattered only to me (or maybe me and my immediate family). My glasses had broken on Saturday night. They were plastic frames that had snapped at the nose piece. This had happened to me before a couple of times over the years, and we glued them as we had before, but we didn’t expect the glue to hold long, because it had never held for as long as a day before. I could not get to the eye doctor until at least that Thursday, and I had a lot of driving and graduate classes to deal with on Monday through Wednesday. So I asked my Sunday School class to pray for my glasses to somehow hold. And they did, not coming apart until I was sitting in the optometrist’s office. A little thing, for the glue to hold for four days instead of one, but something that made my life much better for those four days.

As I tell that story again, one thing occurs to me: what isn’t little to God? He spoke the world into being. What can we ask of him that he would think is a big request? There are things God won’t do because of his character. There are things he won’t do because he has a better plan for us. There are also times when he waits to act. But there is nothing we can ask that would cause his to say, “Oh, that’s hard.” Paul reminds us that he “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20b ESV). Since everything we might ask is small to God, there is no reason why some things should be considered too small.

Of course, the biggest reason for praying about everything is that he told us to: “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6b). Not in some things, not in the important things, but in everything. When we are tempted to think, “Oh, God won’t care about that,” or “I can handle this problem by myself,” we should remind ourselves that God intends for us to pray about every single thing, large or small. Then, we should pray.

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