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Do not despise this small beginning, for the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin,—Zechariah 4:10
While we think of God in big terms—as we should—we often forget He is also the God of the little things in life. Not only did He create the universe, He also gave life to single cell organisms. Not only did He form elephants, He also gave gnats their existence. God is into small things just as He is capable of large ones.
When the main beam of the Mayflower broke, in God’s providence, the Pilgrims had taken a massive screw—most historians think it was from a printing press—to the New World to aid in building their homes. The same screw that helped print godly materials in England would also be the mechanism that God used to give the Pilgrims safe passage to New England, so they could spread the gospel.
The Pilgrims had initially planned to sail into what is now the Hudson River of modern day New York. We do not know what would have awaited them there. In being off a few degrees, they landed in Plymouth, near an old Indian village whose inhabitants had died from a disease a few years earlier. Not only did they escape attack, they were grateful for land that had already been cleared for farming.
Another sovereign detail that God superintended was that the lone survivor of this eradicated tribe was an Indian named Squanto. Miraculously, he understood English. He had been captured several years earlier by a slaver and sold into slavery back in England where he learned the language. He later managed to escape, and through a series of events, found passage on a ship back to his homeland in America. It was shortly thereafter that he had his first encounter with the Pilgrims.
Not only did Squanto teach the Pilgrims basic survival skills, he also help negotiate a peace treaty with the Wampanoag leader, named Massasoit. The treaty lasted for years. In spite of their heavy losses that first year when half of the company died, a small and humble foundation was laid for future prosperity.
This reminds us of another group of people who started out small; however, they did not leave their homeland for a land far away. Instead, they left a land far away, to return to their homeland in Jerusalem, attempting to rebuild the temple and city walls. These Jewish returnees found few friends in their native land. Like the Pilgrims, they had numerous obstacles to overcome, from finding places to stay to overcoming the locals who sought to deter them, even threatening them with physical attack. Amid this difficult season, a prophet rose up and reminded them that God had a real heart for small things, things others would toss away. Through this encouragement, they too laid a foundation that eventually supported the temple of God. Although his temple would be much smaller than Solomon’s temple, God said the latter temple would have greater glory than the original. (Hag. 2:9)
Like these two groups, it is easy to think that God is not that interested in us due to our own insignificance. There are seasons in life when we even feel that God has forgotten us. We know His eye is on the sparrow in others’ lives, but we doubt it is upon us. Still, if God watched over a small boat with a hundred souls in the middle of a seemingly endless ocean; if God had them bring a giant screw that saved the main beam and perhaps the entire ship from perishing; if God even supplied them with an English-speaking Indian in a foreign land; we have hope that God will see each of us amidst the sea of humanity and meet the smallest needs in our lives.
This Thanksgiving, know that God is concerned about the small things in your life. Both scripture and history supply us with example after example of how God takes care of details long before the individuals involved had an awareness of their future need. Also, know that God is pleased when we show similar attention and appreciation to the details in life. Above all, anytime we start something new and the project seems greater than our potential, God rejoices to see the small beginning because it calls for a big God.
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