This has been some week. Virginia had an earthquake. Then Hurricane Irene hit the entire east coast. Many who died this week were fine last week. Sudden things can happen. Things like this make us feel our smallness. The largeness of sin, things seeming to be out of control and the destabilization of the governments in the world can shake us up. Believers who really stick with the Bible are made to feel small.
Four hundred years before the coming of the Savior, Zechariah was spoken to by the Lord about Zerubbabel. Things of God seem small. Our size is not critical. It is God’s size that matters. God talked about the day of small things.
Zechariah 4: 9The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. 10For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
This is an interesting chapter that the Lord gave Zachariah. He received a vision by use of the olive tree and candlestick. It was a message of encouragement. The prophets would be used as Israel went back to rebuild after the captivity. In the beginning they didn’t realize the plan. They felt small. They were captives of the most heathen nation on earth. It housed the oldest religion that stemmed from Babel. There was a lot of idol worship. That Babylonian spirit is still alive today. We are in a world much the same as the children of Israel were. We face radical factions of all kinds. It is a day of small things for us.
Israel had known big days of honor. They had known prosperity. Now they were small compared to their enemy. Zerubbabel was governor of a small province in Persia. Little did he know God was training him for when he went back to Israel. God told Zachariah to tell him not to be intimidated over the small remnant of Jews. Sometimes the devil tries to get us to feel ashamed we’re Christians that don’t go with the modernist and liberalist line of thinking. That’s a large crowd. Never despise your smallness or feel inferior for following the old-time way. In days of small things, the largeness of God can be seen.
The plummet mentioned in verse 10 was a small instrument that would be used to do a big thing, rebuild the city wall. The eye of God would see to it. It would be like this: “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” Don’t get discouraged when the devil pushes in. Don’t throw in the towel when it gets hard. There is a word from the Lord. The devil is rolling up his sleeves and working overtime. His muscles don’t matter. We may be weak. We may be behind the times, so to speak. We may feel unneeded. Regardless of how this world makes you feel, we serve God and by his Spirit we’ll make it.
Zerubbabel felt small. How could he rule the people who had once been ruled by kings? When we feel our smallness, we depend on the Lord. Small things are good. We realize how much we need God. His arms are strong when ours are weak. Who among us is expert at being a Christian? None of us are. We trust the one who is the expert. I need the mind of Christ to guide me. I don’t have to think it out or fight the devil on my own. I just have to do my little part. Put myself in God’s hands and be used by him.
Think about the small instruments used to raise a garden. Look what comes from it. This is not a day to be defeated. It’s a day to shine. It’s the day for God to accomplish things through us. Look what God did through Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The walls were rebuilt. The temple was rebuilt. Their homes were rebuilt. It was all done is small ways. God used small people just like us to get the work done. When we feel the smallest is when the greatest can be done for the Lord. The day of small things is a day of greatness for God.
God is bigger than what seems so big around us. You and I will win the victory. If we are small, so be it. It is at times like these that miracles take place. Just remember it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 