Zechariah 4:10 (NKJV) – For who has despised the day of small things?
The day of small things is at hand! The Lord looks with compassion into the hearts and minds of people who are small in reputation yet who are broken and contrite in their mediocrity (Psalm 51:17). We might well look for the obvious like Samuel who went through the seven esteemed sons of Jesse before coming to the youngest and least esteemed son, David (1 Samuel 16:1-13). Our earthly lives are always humbled before the Lord by the very nature of our weaknesses and remanded to the limits of our ability and strength till our testing is complete. Like when you have only walked a mile at the base of a high mountain only to realize just how far you must go before you reach its peak and how limited the stride of your legs will extend to get you there. I have yet to hear of anyone who has ever leveled a mountain with a word or lifted a valley above it. Very few acknowledge, or even see that the Lord is God. We who have something to prove will never amount to the sum of our expectations when they have roots in the world. We who have little on earth will prove faithful by living small in God’s greatness. God has shown everything for us in Christ Jesus. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him, the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels (Luke 9:23–26).
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:3a). Unpack this truth, and you will find the source of all life. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 100:3b). Unpack this truth, and you will find the meaning of the great love God has for the life He has made. The Lord is God! The maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all that dwells in it (Psalm 146:6). Who are we to presume with worldly wisdom to know God’s mind and heart? When we look to Christ and see the Father’s love for us, then we who are small in this world will have the confidence of our big reputation in Heaven. Can you hear the angels speaking highly of you while the world looks down on your lowly undesirable state? Of course not, you’re not meant to understand it yet. Much less, for the time being, will you not be able to hear the Lord God Almighty speaking highly of you in His great chambers, “This is my child, in whom I am well pleased.” Do you not realize that we who are faithful to Christ in this world are safe in His faithfulness to see us to our desired haven (Psalm 107:23-30)? Does it not state in the scriptures, Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)?
Just because we are small in this world does not mean that we cannot fight in the spirit with the ferocity of a thousand men on a battlefield. Through God, we shall do valiantly (Psalm 60:12)! Our fight is not one of hatred or violence but of love and peace towards others in the name of Jesus. This formula for everlasting life has been small and foolish in the eyes of many people but has proven throughout time as the most potent remedy for lost and broken souls. The awkward thing for Christians is trying to convince those who think they’re well that they’re sick. The healing process from being spiritually sick to being made spiritually well must appear so unfamiliar and harmful to those who are without God. I picture in my mind placing a cake devoid of nutrients next to a plate of fresh vegetables in front of a child. They will choose cake every time! How do you convince people who seemingly live larger than life to condescend to a state of humility to which all their counterparts scoff? You don’t! They are the ones that are losing the uphill battle for their lives by climbing the wrong mountain. When we get up God’s mountain there waits for us the promises of an everlasting fellowship as princes and princesses with endless wealth and pleasure that no one can take from us, because our faith was tested and found valid before God. When the lost get to the top of their mountain, they will immediately meet the proctors who will force them down the other side to the desolate low-lands where there is no water and where the test is finished and lost forever. The smallest people in this life will turn out to be the greatest spirits in all eternity because their faithfulness was great with the little they had, whether in wealth or esteem.
