Does God Really Care About Me?

“If it matters to you, it matters to God,” read my friend’s fridge magnet. I thought it was a lovely sentiment when I first read these words at my friend’s place several years ago. However, I began to question this as I grappled with frustrated hopes and disappointment with God.

In my younger days, I struggled a lot with loneliness and longed very much to be in a romantic relationship. I prayed about it frequently, but God didn’t seem to answer my prayers year after year. Before long, I doubted if God really cared about what mattered to me.

After all, why would He make time for someone like me? In the grand scheme of things, I, and my desire for a relationship, must surely be so insignificant in His eyes.

I knew that God is the Creator of all things. He is majestic, glorious, everlasting, and magnificent. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, far greater than all things. But I, who came from dust and will return to dust, am like grass that easily withers. Why does God care about me and my longings?

However, even in my doubts and struggles, my favorite line from the Book of Jonah would, from time to time, come back to me. It was as if the Holy Spirit wanted to remind me of something. In the last passage of the book, God asked Jonah, “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:11)

God didn’t just care about great and important matters; He also cared about what, to most people, would seem like an insignificant thing—the lives of animals. It made me think that perhaps God does care about little things after all. As I read the Bible over the years, I began to look out for instances where God took note of such matters.

 

God cares about the stars

Did you know that God not only decided how many stars there should be in the universe, but He also calls each one by name? (Psalm 147:4; Isaiah 40:26) It’s as if in creating them, God gave every star His special attention, choosing a name for them and introducing each one to the world.

If this is the attention God devotes to stars, what close, loving attention would He pay to us? The Bible tells us that God counsels us with His loving eye on us (Psalm 32:8). After all, the Father handpicked each one of us to be His son or daughter, so that we can be called by His Name (1 John 3:1). What an unimaginable joy and unthinkable honor that is!

 

God cares about the animals and plants

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care,” Jesus reminds us (Matthew 10:29). God actually pays attention to such small birds, and He cares about their life and death.

“So don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows,” Jesus assures us (Matthew 10:31). If God cares enough to provide for and take care of even such insignificant animals, how much more would He take care of us?

God also dresses the flowers of the field in beauty that exceeds King Solomon’s splendor (Matthew 6:28-29). So while I may feel like lowly dust and perishable grass, I find comfort in this: If God can clothe the grass of the field with such splendor, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, surely, He will provide well for me, too.

 

God cares about the little details

Did you ever notice that God made clothes for Adam and Eve?

After Adam and Eve sinned against God, they covered themselves with fig leaves because they were ashamed in their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). However, their coverings must not have been so good, because later, “[t]he Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).

Even though God had to exile Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden because of their sin, He made sure to provide them with something substantial and lasting to cover themselves. Would He not also provide for us in substantial and lasting ways today?

When God led the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness, He “sustained them in the wilderness [and] they lacked nothing,” to the extent of making sure that neither their clothes nor sandals wore out (Nehemiah 9:21). Each and every day, God protected their bodies from the elements and their feet from swelling (Deuteronomy 8:4; 29:5). Would He not also care for and address our everyday concerns today?

 

God cares about the little things in our lives

God is mighty and deserving of all the adoration in my life, but I have realized that He is also meticulous and attentive to the smallest details in my life.

He knows the number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30-31). I always like to imagine that He’s gently caressing my head, counting each strand of my hair. He knows and loves me that well, that intimately.

He knows my misery and saves my tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8). God cares about what I care about, and He takes notes of my concerns. One day, He will personally wipe every tear from my eyes (Revelation 21:4).

We are told “not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6, emphasis added). This includes every little thing we’re anxious about. This encourages me because I’m easily stressed out by small matters, from financial matters to not having enough time to meet a deadline to lack of rest. If I’m not careful, these things can make me anxious. However, I often feel more rested when I remind myself that God does care about me, and I can entrust to Him every big and small worry in my life.

 

I used to struggle with feeling forgotten by God, that perhaps “[m]y way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God” (Isaiah 40:27). But God kept assuring me that He is the everlasting God who will not grow weary of taking note of my concerns, and that there’s nothing in my life He doesn’t fully understand.

I now know that I can bring anything before God: He is a God who cares about every intricate detail of my life. And the biggest evidence for this is in the fact that He cares for me. Jesus is the Shepherd of my soul who would leave the 99 sheep to go look for me—He would scale the heights, and plumb the depths, and go the distance, and light the darkness until He finds me. (1 Peter 2:25; Luke 15:4; Psalm 139:7-12)

This fosters my trust in Him and helps me to experience peace even in life’s smaller worries.

“If it matters to you, it matters to God”—because you and I matter to God.

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