Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel? Zechariah 4:10
Small does not mean alone nor does it mean
insignificant- that’s what I’m learning these days. Being small compels me to
evaluate the big things in my life and reveals what is currently bigger than
God.
Small is exactly
what I need to be to remember that He is holding me.
I stumbled upon this passage yesterday (and
when I say stumbled upon, I mean the very words made my knees kiss the carpet).
“Who dares despise the day of small
things?” God asks in Zechariah 4:10a. The
context of these powerful words is centered on the task God has given to
Zerubbabel: rebuild the temple that was in ruins. The work was to be completed
not by human power or might, but by the Spirit of the Lord. (see Zechariah 4:6)
The Hebrew word translated ‘despise’ means
“to hold in contempt, to hold as insignificant, to trample with the feet.” As
the weight of it hung over me, I realized that it’s impossible to be held by
God yet cling to feelings of contempt and insignificance towards the very place
He’s brought me.
God is clear: “Do not despise the day of
small things.” This season of small is but a day- a day ordained by God as very
necessary and significant.
The remaining part is where I find comfort
and rest: “…since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth
will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
(Zechariah 4:10b)
God sees the small
things.
God rejoices in my
smallness.
I learned something about the Mona Lisa
this summer. Erwin Raphael McManus, in
his book The Artisan Soul, writes
about the size of this well known masterpiece.
Never having been to the Louvre, I was stunned to learn that the entire
thing- frame and all- is about 31 by 21 inches.
“You could pretty much put it on the back of a T-shirt,” McManus
explains.
Yet this piece of art has not lost its
beauty or elegance on account of its smallness. He writes, “Great art is not
limited to its canvas any more than it is limited by its medium.”
Smallness does not
equate insignificance.
My favorite quote in the entire book is
this:
“Yet here we see that God’s most creative
act, rescuing all humanity, could be accomplished only when he emptied himself
of his limitlessness and took on the limitations of being human. For the singular act that brought salvation
to the world, God chose what for him must have seemed the smallest of canvases
and the most common of materials. To do
his greatest work, he embraced his greatest limitations. Above all, he
understood that the intention of the art determines the medium that must be
chosen. To save humanity, he would need
to become a man; to conquer death, he would need to be crucified; to bring us
back to life, he would need to be resurrected; to heal our wounds, he would
need to be wounded; to free us from ourselves, he would need to become our
prisoner.
The artisan soul understands that if our
lives are to be masterpieces and if life itself is our most creative act, then
we must embrace life as a canvas and recognize that the medium we have chosen
(or haven’t chosen) comes with boundaries and limitations and that these
boundaries are not to be despised but to be embraced.”
Do not despise the
day of small things.
There’s another guy who understood this
notion of small. His name was Saul. Actually he went by Paul after he met Jesus
on the road to Damascus. Saul means “desired
one,” while Paul means “small or little.” He was both: desired and small. God chose this man as
a key instrument in the building of His kingdom.
Paul went by his Roman name rather
than his Jewish name because of the people he was called to serve, yet I wonder
if there was more to that decision. I believe
Paul understood and embraced his smallness.
Paul did not despise the day of small
things- like writing letters from a prison cell. He used a great, big word- elachistoteros- to describe himself in
his letter to the church in Ephesus. It
is the only place in the entire bible this word is used. It means “less than the least” or “lower than
the lowest.” This was a man who understood the beauty of being small.
Although I am less than the least of
all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the
boundless riches of Christ. Ephesians 3:8
His two names- desired and small- stand in
opposition to each other. The beauty of this mystery is depicted in
the very imbalance of a great and mighty God choosing the small, the littlest,
the least of the least. To be chosen, to be desired, to be plucked from the path
of a murderous persecutor, to be forgiven, loved and used by God is no small
thing. It is grace on display for the
world to see.
God chose us to be
small.
Small enough to remember how big He is.
Small enough to realize just how loved we
are.
Small enough to be held… in the palm of His
hand.
