Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do (John 6:5-6). Recently, I heard someone say, “The devil is in the detail.” I’ve heard this saying many times, but when I heard it recently, it stuck in my mind. I decided to see if I could find the origin of this phrase. I understand the meaning. It means the small things in plans and schemes often overlooked can cause serious problems later on. Ignore the small details and you are in for big trouble in the future. I found out that the idiom “the devil is in the detail” actually derives from the earlier phrase, “God is in the detail;” and the author is generally considered as anonymous. This also expresses the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly, as details are important. It’s like when we say to our children, “You had better mind me or you’ll be sorry.” Or, maybe, like my Mom used to say, “You just wait till your Dad gets home.” That meant really big trouble. It was much better to listen and attend to the “details” of minding in the beginning than to suffer the consequences later in the day. I felt much better after learning about the latter saying because when I heard the more familiar one I thought I would much rather God be in the details than the devil. I know I can trust the outcome of any situation much better with God in the middle rather than the devil in the middle. While some surprises are pleasant, those planned by the devil never are. GRACE NOTES 63 I must say though that it is a great relief to me knowing that if I forget to include all the details, God is awesome at filling in all the things I forget or don’t ever even know about to begin with. Actually, He knows far better than I do how things need to work out. He knows the best ending for every beginning and all that needs to take place in between. He’s a detail kind of God. I believe that if I trust Him and I forget a detail, I didn’t really need to remember it after all. Jesus knew how the multitude would be fed, even though Philip was in great distress about the details. Jesus didn’t ask Philip the question because He didn’t know the answer. He knew, but He wanted Philip to trust Him. And, just as He knew about the situation of the hungry multitude, He knows about ours, too.
