God in the Small Things
3 Lessons from an Empty Gas Tank
For singer-songwriter and worship leader Benjamin William Hastings, seeing God at work hasn’t always come through miracles or mountaintop moments. More and more, it’s been through the ordinary—the subtle nudges and inconvenient delays that, in hindsight, seem like whispers of grace.
“I’ve been learning to notice Him in the small things,” Ben shared. “It’s in the quiet, seemingly insignificant moments where His presence often feels most real.”
Running on Empty
A few months ago, while in Ireland with his producer, Ben found himself facing one of those not-so-spiritual but all-too-human situations: a completely empty gas tank in the middle of nowhere.
“I’d rented this little hybrid car with a tiny gas tank,” he said, “and I kept forgetting to fill it up. It didn’t even beep when it was running low, so I never really knew how much fuel I had left.”
As they drove through the countryside toward a guitar factory, a thought came to him: You should check the gas gauge. When he did, the tank was empty—and they were far from the nearest town, with no phone reception.
“We kept driving, just hoping we’d stumble across a station,” he said. “And after about ten minutes of panic, we finally saw one.” Relief set in. But just as they turned into the station, the car died.
God doesn’t need grand gestures to remind us of His love.
“My producer had to push the car the final meter to the pump,” Ben laughed. “But we made it. Barely.”
1. See God in the Small Things
As minor as the experience may sound, it stuck with him. “It was such a small thing, such a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of life,” he reflected. “But it felt like God was teaching me something.”
When he later shared the story with a friend, their response caught him off guard: “You need to stop writing all those songs about struggling with faith—things always just seem to work out for you!”
“He wasn’t wrong,” Ben admitted. “Things do have a strange way of falling into place, often at the last possible moment.”
It made him think—maybe what we call coincidence is sometimes something more.
“That empty gas tank was a nudge—a reminder to start seeing God in the little things,” he said. “It’s easy to chalk moments like that up to luck, but maybe they’re whispers of God’s presence, reminding us He’s with us in the mundane as much as in the miraculous.”
2. Ask Why the Small Things Matter
What that moment revealed, Ben said, is that noticing God in the small things is less about practicing gratitude and more about cultivating trust.
“It’s about believing that He’s present in every detail, no matter how insignificant it might seem,” he explained. “There’s a temptation to dismiss small blessings and think, It’s not a big deal. But maybe that’s the point.” (01:39:28:20–01:40:10:23)
God doesn’t always speak in thunder. Sometimes, it’s the nearly empty tank that still gets you where you need to go.
3. Take Another Look at Worship
The experience has reshaped how Ben approaches worship—not just onstage, but in everyday life.
God is intimately involved in every part of our lives.
“It’s easy to sing about God’s greatness in the big moments,” he said, “but worship becomes even more real when we recognize His hand in the small ones.”
Whether it’s an unexpected conversation that lifts your spirit, a moment of calm in a chaotic day, or the last drop of gas that gets you to your destination—those, too, are moments of worship.
“God is intimately involved in every part of our lives,” Ben said. “No matter how ordinary it might seem.”
The next time you feel like you’re running on empty—spiritually, emotionally, or literally—pause and look around. That “insignificant” moment might just be a message from God.
“For me, it was small, almost laughably insignificant,” Ben said. “But it was enough to remind me: God is in the details. And sometimes, that’s exactly what we need to know.”
CTA
Your Prayer Matters
Do you have a burden or a praise you’d like to share? Our prayer page is a space for you to connect and be uplifted. Submit your prayer request today, and let us join you in seeking God’s presence in every situation. Click here for our prayer wall. https://www.myflr.org/prayerwall/