Little Things Can Be a Big Deal

Little things can seem very insignificant, but they may be quite useful or even highly valuable. Just suppose you wanted to build a room onto your house. If you bought the lumber, the shingles and the drywall but neglected to purchase the nails, your project would be put on hold until the nails were secured.

Nails for a building project are small things, but they are of great importance.

So are a number of other small things.

There are many people who want to serve the Lord but feel they have very little to offer. Sometimes it takes them to the place of reluctance. They seem to feel that if they can’t do something really important, it is not worth the effort; so they do nothing at all.

Just think for a moment about that little boy’s five barley loaves and two small fish (John 6:9)! When given to Jesus, it fed five thousand people with twelve baskets of fragments left over.

I’m glad that little boy was interested in hearing Jesus and was willing to give up his food! No doubt many people came to believe in Jesus that day because of that little boy’s small meal that Jesus turned into something really big. One day a boy in our church who was in his early teens came to my husband and said, “Pastor, I want to serve the Lord in our church. Do you know of anything that I can do?”

Shelton looked over that boy’s shoulder and saw bulletins and hymnals out of place. He immediately said, “Yes, if you could pick up any trash and bulletins, then put the hymnals back into the racks, it would be most helpful.”

That boy gladly accepted that job and did it faithfully until he went away to college. He even got some other young people to help with the project. His family was gladly supportive and happy for his desire to serve the Lord. It may have seemed like a small thing, but it had a big impact.

Remember the shepherd boy named David who was considered too little to fight the big giant Goliath? He took five little stones from the brook and with one of them slew the Philistine giant who was leading an army against the Israelites.

David had no stature of greatness and no desire for grandeur. He did this “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (I Sam. 17:46). He was offered armor and a sword for the battle, but he just used what he already had and knew how to use.

His sling was small and the stones were small, but God used him in a mighty way because of his faith and courage.

In the Old Testament the question is raised, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:10). This is a reprimand to the Jewish people because they had lost heart in the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.

They seemed to feel that the job was too hard. Since they didn’t have the material needed, they felt it wouldn’t be as beautiful as the original temple. They had the upheaval of opposition and they were discouraged.

Then Zerubbabel reminded them that it was “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (vs. 6).

We too may have days of small things. Let’s not let discouragement sideline us. Remember whom we are serving and trust the One who can make all our little things great.

I’m also thinking of the widow’s mite. Some people had given much, but she gave all she had. Jesus also said that if we give only “a cup of cold water” in His name we will not lose our reward (Matt. 10:42). Remember Noah and his small family built a big ark! What a victory!

I am reminded of the song “Little Is Much When God Is in It.”

Does the place you’re called to labor

Seem so small and little known?

It is great if God is in it

And He’ll not forget His own.

—Kittie Suffield