I want it all I want it all I want it all and I want it now – Queen
So sings Freddy Mercury in the credit card commercial featuring a husband shopping for a new HD TV. Freddy tells it like it is – we don’t like to wait. We want it all and we want it now. I want godly children and I want them now. I want to be like Christ and I want it now. I want God’s blessings and I want them now. But God doesn’t work that way. Apparently he doesn’t listen to Queen. God begins his work with seeds hidden in the earth and babies in mangers.
For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. (Zechariah 4:10)
About 50 years after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, the Babylonian empire crumbled and Persia ascended to world power. Cyrus made a decree that the Jews could return and rebuild the temple and Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor led around 40,000 Jews back to their land to start the work.
They laid the foundations with rejoicing. Yet the older men (“Why when I was your age…) who remembered the former temple wept. The beginnings of this temple were a far cry from the glory of Solomon’s. It was a “day of small things”. Yet God told his people they’d rejoice in the future.
God’s great works often have humble beginnings. He picked Abraham, an old relic and Sarah his barren wife, to birth his chosen people. He began Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery with a baby in a basket caught in the cattails of the Nile. The Savior of the world was born in a smelly stable in a nowhere town in a downtrodden nation. Hardly auspicious beginnings.
Jesus employed a motley crew of uneducated fishermen to start his church, not a slick Madison Avenue campaign of Super Bowl ads. I can just see the disciples on “The Apprentice,” arguing about who is the greatest. Donald Trump would pronounce “You’re fired” over all of them in week one, yet Jesus used them to launch his mighty church.
Oak trees sprout from acorns. Babies grow from microscopic cells. Mighty rivers swell from tiny springs. God’s work of grace in our lives is often but a spark at first. My first prayers were peppered with cursing because I wanted to be honest with God. They were like an oily car engine sputtering to life, belching out black smoke and fumes, but it was a start. A small one, but God didn’t despise it.
We can look at our lives and become discouraged at the imperceptible progress we see. We can sigh at how faint a glimmer of grace we see in our children’s lives. We can be tempted to grow impatient at a young believers’ faltering progress. We may be discouraged by the small size and slow growth of our church.
“Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto” not by what we currently are, says puritan Richard Sibbes in The Bruised Reed.
Is there a spark in your child – even the weakest flame? Are there the crudest beginnings of love for Jesus in your friend? Is there one true step toward God even though there are 10 backward? God begins with faith the size of a mustard seed. Don’t despise the day of small things. Keep praying and encouraging and hoping. You will yet rejoice.
As a small church pastor it is easy to become discouraged. Your presentation from scripture was encouraging in its reminder. Thank you for the article. I’ve printed it out and hung it on my wall.
Thank you, Mark..I’m the “one step forward, 10 (or 20) steps backward” one. Thanks for the encouragement.
Mark,
I cant tell you how much I needed to read this. Certain relationships have made me very discouraged lately, and it is sometimes hard to see baby steps of growth in myself and in others. This truth is a gentle reminder to be patient as God works things out in His time. Philippians 1:6 rings true: That HE who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Thank you! I miss you and your family very much!
-Diana
Thank you for this. I also think of Jesus’ public ministry; most of that which is recorded happened later in his life. So there could have been a relatively publicly quiet period in His life as well. Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. Yet God said that his “grace is sufficient” and that his “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). There’s something to be said about endurance, patience, and suffering. Neat to see examples of this (as well as quiet periods) in the Bible.
Hey Matthew,
I can relate to your discouragement. Our church was small for years – it’s a little bigger now, but I can remember being discouraged Sunday after Sunday at our small and slow growth.
I often tried to remind myself not to despise the day of small beginnings and that Jesus will build his church.
I pray the Lord will continue to encourage you – none of your labor in the Lord is in vain!
Hey Briana,
I’m the president of the 20 steps backwards club. Glad to have you as a member! Thanks for your encouragement.
Hey Diana,
Thank you for your comments! Glad you were encouraged. Phil. 1:6 is one of my favorite Scriptures – thanks for mentioning it.
Hey – we miss you too. Hope you’re doing well.
Hi Rachael,
Yes there really is a lot to be said for endurance, patience and suffering. It’s amazing to think that Jesus lived in obscurity until he was 30. I also think of Moses and David – God took both of them through “desert” experiences.
Thank you for your comments!
Greetings, How do I post a issue? I accidently found your website (I know, there are not accidents in Christ; just divine appointments) and I was comforted by reading past comments.