Does God Care About the Little Things? Wrestling with the Paradox of Suffering and Divine Care

I’ve spent many days and nights in hospital waiting rooms, praying for God to intervene while doctors attempted to work miracles on my loved ones.

The chaos began in 2001 when my dad had his first heart attack. It was the first time my immediate family had faced a major medical emergency, and we were completely unprepared. Somehow, we navigated the healthcare system and escaped seemingly unscathed.

But nothing prepared me for my parents’ motorcycle accident in 2009.

There’s no guidebook for handling a crisis where both of your parents are in separate trauma units at different hospitals. There’s no checklist for managing your mom’s two brain surgeries in a single day while your dad is hospitalized elsewhere, unaware of what’s happening to her.

I wish there had been a deck of conversation cards to guide me in breaking the news to my dad after his release—preparing him for what he was about to walk into when he entered my mom’s hospital room.

Over the past 16 years, I’ve sat in far too many hospital surgical waiting rooms, anxiously awaiting updates from surgeons and praying desperately for the best possible outcome.

Turning to God in Crisis—But What About the Everyday?

It’s easy, almost instinctual, to turn to God in times of immense stress and uncertainty.

I fully grasp the concept of praying without ceasing when the life of someone I love hangs in the balance. But for most of my life, I struggled with the idea of talking to God in my everyday moments.

I was raised in a legalistic environment filled with checklists and expectations—one that made me feel like my flawed, sinful self wasn’t worthy of approaching God in casual, daily conversation. I was great at formal, structured prayers. I knew how to make them sound perfect. But actually talking to God like He was interested in my everyday life? That felt foreign.

I carried this mental barrier, convinced that my daily struggles were too insignificant to bring before God—especially when compared to life-or-death hospital stays.

Why should I waste God’s time with the little things?

What Jesus Says About the Minor Details of Our Lives

Jesus addresses this very tension in Luke 12:6-7 (TPT):

“What is the value of your soul to God? Could your worth be defined by any amount of money? God doesn’t abandon or forget even the small sparrow He has made. How then could He forget or abandon you? What about the seemingly minor issues of your life? Do they matter to God? Of course they do! So you never need to worry, for you are more valuable to God than anything else in this world.”

At face value, this passage is a clear reassurance of God’s love and concern for our everyday, seemingly minor experiences. But when we look at the full context, an uncomfortable paradox emerges.

Just before this, Jesus had a tense exchange with a Pharisee, calling out the hypocrisy of religious leaders and urging them to realign their priorities (Luke 11:42). Then, He warned His disciples that the Pharisees’ corruption was like yeast, spreading through everything (Luke 12:1). Finally, He delivered a chilling message: “There will be people who want to take your lives.” (Luke 12:4).

And immediately after that warning? Jesus tells them not to be afraid because God cares about the smallest details of their lives.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

How Do These Two Truths Coexist?

This paradox is deeply unsettling.

On one hand, Jesus warns that people will try to kill His disciples. On the other, He assures them that God cares about the most minor aspects of their existence—even down to the number of hairs on their heads.

How can both of these things be true?

I’ve wrestled with this question for years.

The tension here isn’t something that can be wrapped up in a neat theological bow. It’s a reality we have to sit with. But here’s what I do know:

What We Know About Suffering and God’s Care

• Evil exists.

• Sometimes, evil shows up in religious people and places. The Pharisees in Jesus’ time proved that.

• People are imperfect. They can be abrasive and damaging—like sandpaper.

• Some people will try to harm us—physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.

But, here’s what I also know:

• People can’t destroy our souls.

• God cares about us—both in the midst of suffering and beyond it.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

This is one of the biggest questions that causes people to walk away from faith. If God cares about me, why does He allow me to suffer?

I don’t have a neat, satisfying answer. I wish I did.

Maybe it’s a combination of free will, spiritual warfare, and the bigger picture. Maybe it’s something we won’t fully understand on this side of eternity.

But here’s what I do know: Even though God doesn’t always shield us from suffering, He promises to be with us through it.

We will face trials, trauma, and trouble. But we will never face them alone.

And beyond the suffering, He still cares—even about the most seemingly minor things in our lives.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Learning to Talk to God in the Everyday

I’m still working on my conversations with God. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully undo the conditioning I grew up with. But accepting that God cares about me—not just in my struggles but in my ordinary, mundane moments—has been a step in the right direction.

Whatever you’re facing today—whether it’s a crisis or the everyday grind—I hope you find encouragement in knowing that you can bring it to the Father. Maybe, like me, it’s the tension of this paradox that frustrates you. Take it to God. He can handle it, and He has promised that He cares.

Reflections:

• Are you more likely to go to God in tragedy or triumph? Why?

• What’s one way you can become more conversational with God?

• What’s your biggest obstacle to talking with God about the minor things in your life?