Yes, God is big enough to rule His mighty universe, yet small enough to live within our hearts and small enough to stoop and bend His ear ever so low to hear our heart's anguished cry. His heart of love is touched by our griefs and sorrows. He longs for us to take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds. He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read, and there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel as can be seen in the following story:

Jim was out shopping. Without realizing it, he carried a pocket calculator he had been looking at out of a store, along with his purchases. When he got to the car, he tossed his packages onto the front seat and one of them slid to the floor. As he bent over to pick it up, he saw the calculator underneath it. To anyone looking on, of course, it would appear that he was trying to hide it.

And someone was looking on. Just at that moment the store owner opened the car door and demanded that he get out. He was arrested for shoplifting.

This was a serious blow. Jim and his family were new in the city. Nobody knew him. His job and his reputation were at stake. It was the next day before he could get up courage to tell Janine what had happened. 'It was so stupid,'  he said, 'so stupid!'  He felt he had to plead guilty. After all, the calculator was in his possession when he was arrested. No one would be concerned about whether he meant to take it or not.

He was called before the judge the next Friday, and the charges were read. There were the usual formalities. But when the judge asked if he had anything to say, he explained what had happened. The judge interrupted. 'Just a minute. Are you trying to say that you did not intent to take this calculator?'

'No, I did not, Your Honor.'

'Then I can't accept your plea of guilty. This case will have to be held over for trial in a criminal court.'  The trial was set for November 20.

Jim and Janine were praying constantly these days--praying as they had never prayed before.

The trial was on a Thursday. Six witnesses testified against Jim. Then his lawyer called for a recess and told Jim he could get him off on a technicality. None of the witnesses could prove it was the same calculator. Jim didn't want that. And then the judge had to leave to catch a plane. Court was adjourned until the next Tuesday.

Jim and Janine kept praying. Janine fasted one day. All that mattered was that she must be right with God. Otherwise, how could He hear her prayers? Then she experienced a calm and a peace she had not known before.

On Tuesday all the judge had to do was sum up his findings and give his verdict. But something was added. The judge had a story to tell of what had happened to him on Saturday. Shopping in the Redlands Shopping Center, he made several purchases and looked at a number of other items. As he was getting into his car, he suddenly realized he had accidentally picked up an item and brought it out with him. 'If I had been stopped then',  he told the lawyers, 'I would have been in exactly the same predicament as this man.'

And then 'Not guilty. Case dismissed.'

Now, that wasn't hard for God to solve that problem, was it? The Prophet Jeremiah said 'Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.' Jeremiah 32:17.  God has a thousand and one solutions to our problems where we couldn't even come up with one. It behooves each and everyone of us to turn our problems over to the Problem Solver.

Here's another story that's similar in nature--where one found himself falsely accused--where everything seemed to be pointing at him as guilty, yet he knew he was not guilty, but how could he prove it? There was no way in this world he could do it. But the God of Heaven intervened and orchestrated things to turn out in a most unexpected and remarkable way, you couldn't help but realize the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of a wise and loving God.

It was midnight in the town of Plymouth, England. Two men stood by the town's great clock. As it finished striking the hour, both men, strangers, remarked that it had struck thirteen times instead of twelve. One of these men was a gentleman by the name of Captain Jarvis.

It was not long after this that Captain Jarvis awoke early one morning, got up, dressed, and went down to the front door of his home. As he opened it, he saw, to his surprise, that his groom was standing there, with his horse saddled and bridled, ready for him to mount.

The groom explained, 'I had a feeling that you would be wanting your horse, sir.'  He said the feeling had been so strong that he couldn't stay in bed but had to get up and get the horse ready.

This was strange. It had never happened before. But since the horse was ready, he mounted and rode off. Not having to go anywhere in particular, he let the horse choose where he would take him. Soon they were down by the river, close to the spot where a ferry took passengers across.

Imagine his surprise, at this early hour, to see the ferryman there with his boat, waiting to take him across. What was going on?

'How are you here so early, my man?'  he inquired.

'I couldn't rest in my bed, sir, for I had a feeling I was wanted to ferry someone across.'

The captain and the horse got on the boat, and soon they were on the other side. Now what? Again he let the horse direct the course he would take. After some time they came to a large country town. And seeing a passerby, the captain inquired if anything of interest was going on in the town.

'No, sir. Nothing but the trial of a man for murder.'

So, with no other destination in mind for this strange trip, he thought he would see what was going on. He rode to the place of the trial, dismounted, and entered the building.

As he walked in, he heard the judge saying to the prisoner, 'Have you anything to say for yourself--anything at all?'

And the prisoner said, 'I have nothing to say, sir, except that I am an innocent man. There is only one man in all the world who could prove my innocence, but I do not know his name nor where he lives. Some weeks ago we stood together in the town of Plymouth when it was midnight. We both heard the great town clock strike thirteen instead of twelve, and we remarked about it to each other--how strange it was that the clock should strike thirteen at the midnight hour.'

'I am here! I am here!'  the captain shouted from the rear of the room.   'I was the man who stood at midnight beside the great Plymouth clock and heard it strike thirteen instead of twelve. What the prisoner says is absolutely true. I identify him as the man. On the night of the murder, at the very time it was committed, that man was with me at Plymouth, and we remarked to each other how strange it was that the clock should strike thirteen at the midnight hour!'

The condemned man, proved innocent by the captain's testimony, was immediately set free!

Think of it! Only one man in the world could prove that prisoner's innocence. And angels, by awakening a groom and a ferryman and impressing them with an urgency they could not understand--and by leading the horse--had brought that one man into the courtroom at the precise moment he was needed!

Maybe you're thinking: Condemning innocent men to prison for shoplifting or murder is something BIG. God is a BIG God and deals mainly with BIG things.  But what about the little things? Is God too busy to deal with little things--little joys and pleasures? No, God is never too busy to deal with little things as six little girls could tell you. Here's the story:

Three little girls, and three little girls who were visiting them, suddenly decided they wanted to get the Shetland pony and take turns riding.

There was no reason they shouldn't ride, except that the pony was out in the south pasture, running with some yearling steers. And this particular pony loved her freedom. She could run faster than most Shetlands, and she knew every trick of escape. It took two well-mounted men to bring her in.

The father who owned the horse explained to the girls that he couldn't bring her in alone, and he tried to suggest something else they might do. But after a hurried conference the six little girls just dropped to their knees and began to pray. The problem, to them, was so simple. God could bring the pony in.

It was a sight to remember--six little girls with their heads together, praying so earnestly. The father was almost moved to join them. But he wondered if it might not be a sacrilege to pray for a range-running horse to come home. And it seemed so futile.

He was about to tell them that one doesn't ask God for such things, when he looked up and saw the pony coming on the run--down the butte, across the flat, through the creek, and into the corral, where she stopped and waited. The girls by now were up from their knees and waiting for her. They weren't even surprised. They just ran for her with cries of joy, got her bridled, and took her off for an afternoon of riding.

The father of the visiting girls was absolutely shaken. His face was white. He said to his host, 'It seems it's not what you pray for but who does the praying!'

He had just seen six little girls blast every rule of horsemanship. He wouldn't have believed the story if it had been told him. But he had seen it and couldn't forget. He began reading his Bible and then attending church with his family. He has since held several offices in the church. Before witnessing what happened that day, religion had meant nothing to him. His faith is now unshakable!

The Seventh-day Adventist elementary school in Vacaville, California, had just been remodeled. That is, it had been remodeled except for shingles. Funds had run just that much short. And the need was serious, for the rainy season was approaching.

The smaller children, in Kay Buzelli's room, had memorized the words of Jesus, 'With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.'  And they believed those words were true. For days they had prayed for shingles. And earlier that September morning, in Bible class, Karen had prayed, 'Dear Jesus, please be with us today. Help us to do something to show we love others. And please, dear God, don't forget to take care of our school.'

And then it happened. The freeway was only a stone's throw away. And suddenly there was a great 'boom' and a giant truck tire blew out. Seventeen frightened children looked up to see the big truck swerve into the path of oncoming traffic. But those little people, believe it or not, did not race outside, or even to the windows, to see what was happening. One of them said, 'Let's pray that no one will be hurt.'  And seventeen children knelt in a circle with their teacher and prayed--while the screeching, thumping, bumping, crashing sounds of a serious accident continued.

Their prayer was answered even as they prayed. The big truck had turned over and dumped its contents on the edge of the freeway. A smaller truck, in which a two-year-old boy was riding with his father, had turned over and landed in the creek beside the school. But there were no serious injuries. Even the newspapers called it a miracle.

But wait! What had the big truck dumped on the edge of the freeway? Shingles! Shingles just the color needed for the school! Shingles strewn everywhere, it seemed! And nobody wanted to pick them up!

A school board member was at the school at the time, and he negotiated with the insurance adjuster to buy them all for a very small sum. The children picked them up and stacked them neatly. The roof was cared for before the rains, and the shingles left over were sold for a profit of $300.

Could anyone tell those Vacaville children that God doesn't answer prayer?

The next time we are faced with a problem whether it's small or so gigantic it looms like an avalanche ready to fall and crush us, remember we have a God who is bigger than it--a God so big, He rules His mighty universe, yet small enough to stoop and bend His ear ever so low to hear our heart's anguished cry. His heart of infinite love is ever touched by our trials and perplexities and answers our prayers according to His sovereign will.

The above stories were taken from the book, It Must Have Been an Angel  by Marjorie Lewis Lloyd.