姪女是大一新生，她正忙於學校課業和適應新住處。最近因保安問題，學校要求她辦理車輛通行證。因她已有一長串的待辦事項，我便主動幫她辦理。拿到通行證後，她驚訝地說：「謝謝！沒想到你這麼快就在學校辦公室辦妥了。」

其實她不知道這項看似簡單的任務，我花了半天的時間與辦公室做協調、修正申請資料的錯漏，還要補交一些沒預備的文件。但我沒告訴她這些，只是對她說：「隨時都可找我！」

「愛」體現在細節裡，而這次就體現在姪女所沒有察覺到的細節中。聖經告訴我們，以色列人在曠野生活的時候，上帝的愛體現在兩個看似微小的細節裡：他們的衣服和鞋子。在四十年的徒步旅程中，以色列人「身上的衣服並沒有穿破，腳上的鞋也沒有穿壞」（申命記29章5節）。事實上，他們連腳都沒有腫！（8章4節）

上帝的子民曾對祂不忠，但祂卻「大施憐憫」，沒有離棄他們（尼希米記9章19節），他們也「一無所缺」（21節）。上帝賜給他們宏大的恩典，例如祂的同在、聖靈的引導，以及食物和水（19-20節）；與此同時，祂也供應他們那些看似微小卻必要的物品，如衣服和鞋子。

在我們忽視或察覺不到之處，上帝也體現了祂的愛。祂的愛就是如此，祂看見我們生活的每個細節，每個需要。

My niece, a college freshman, was busy with schoolwork and adjusting to a new residence. Because of recent security issues, her school required a vehicle pass. Since applying for this would be one more task on her long to-do list, I offered to do it. “Thanks!” she later said, surprised it had taken me only minutes in the campus office.

What she didn’t know was that the otherwise simple task had taken half a day of coordinating with the office, fixing a glitch in her application, and gathering unexpected documents. But I didn’t tell her this. “Anytime!” I said.

Love is in the details. Here, it was in taking care of details my niece was unaware of. Scripture tells us of God’s love as seen in two seemingly small details of the Israelites’ life in the wilderness: their clothes and shoes. Throughout forty years of walking, their “clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on [their] feet” (Deuteronomy 29:5). In fact, their feet didn’t even swell! (8:4).

God’s people had been unfaithful, but He showed “great compassion,” not abandoning them (Nehemiah 9:19). “They lacked nothing” (v. 21). God provided the “big” things, such as His presence, the counsel of His Spirit, and food and water (vv. 19-20); and the “smaller” but necessary things, such as clothes and shoes.  

God shows His love in ways we may overlook or be unaware of. Such is His love, that He sees every detail of our life.