Short Thought continued.....

The Day of Small Beginnings

 

‘Who despises the day of small things?

Men will rejoice when they see the plumb-line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

(Zechariah 4:10)

 

Zechariah’s prophecy relates to Zerubbabel, 

who led the emancipated Jews back from exile in Babylon

and directed the rebuilding of the altar and temple in Jerusalem. 

 

Imagine being led back to your homeland, to a city and land occupied by other people. 

How easy it would have been to see the devastation of the city walls and temple and feel hopeless.

 

The Old Testament accounts of the rebuilding of the city walls describe a community that

pulls together in adversity and shows how each family, each person does their part,

whether rebuilding or protecting the section of wall allocated to them.

 

God’s instruments in the rebuilding and restoration were His children,

perceived by others as weak and despised:

yet their awareness of divine providence and dependency on God’s guidance

enabled the city and temple to be rebuilt, one brick, one wall, one section at a time:

each doing their small part.

 

Often we think of grand gestures: sometimes God’s providence comes in this way.

Yet, just as a tiny acorn falls to the ground and is buried before it grows into a mighty oak,

so too can a small act achieve much in God’s Kingdom.

 

What does this ‘day of small beginnings’ require of you?

What small offering can you bring so God can multiply it beyond your imagining?

How can you use your ‘lesser’ skills for His glory?

What might be lost without your small step of faith and courage to ... ?

 

Prayer: Lord God, help me not to despise the small things but instead

offer them to you to be multiplied for your Kingdom purposes and glory.  Amen.

 

Thought:  Will you look for the small beginning?

​