THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS

ZECHARIAH 4:1

A. "WHO HATH DESPISED THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS?"
  1. This is one of the most thought provoking questions in the Bible:
    1. It was a rebuke to the disheartened Jews, who had lost heart in the reconstruction of the temple.
    2. And it is a message of assurance to Zerubbabel, the governor, to continue the work that had a very small beginning - Zech. 4:1-14
  2. But its signification goes beyond the experience of ancient Israel; it applies to God's people and their work in all ages:
    1. The history of the church has been marked by "the day of small things".
    2. Our blessed Lord alluded to this in a number of His parables -
      1. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal . . ." - Matt. 13:33
      2. Said Paul to the Corinthians, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" - 1 Cor. 5:6
      3. The Lord spoke of the small mustard seed - Matt. 17:20
B. BUT THERE IS A BRIGHTER SIDE TO OUR OPENING TEXT
  1. The day of small things has been in the past and still is God's day:
    1. Who raised Joseph from prison and made him the father of Egypt? - Gen. 45:8
    2. Who called David from the care of his father's few sheep to become the greatest king Israel ever had? - 1 Sam. 16:3
    3. Who placed Moses into the royal house of Egypt; trained him in the science of law to make him one of the world's greatest legislators of all times?
    4. Who would have chosen a few uneducated fishermen and made them the stars of the gospel of Jesus Christ? - Rev. 12:1-6
  2. Let us take a closer look at the days of small things in the cause of God:
    1. Christ used a few little fishes to feed a multitude of people - Matt. 15:34
    2. He compared the work of God to the growth of vegetation - Mark 4:28
C. TRUTHS WORTHY OF OUR PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION
  1. There are really no small things because great things spring from small or little things:
    1. The atom is so small that to see its substance, it has to be magnified many times; but it is so mighty that the whole world lives in great fear of its power.
    2. A broad river has its source in very small springs.
    3. Great cloudbursts consist of tiny drops of water.
  2. Do we, dear friends, appreciate the days of small things?
    1. Said the Lord to Saul, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?" 1 Sam. 15:17
    2. We recall the small beginning of this movement; the literature it had for the world could be carried in a very small container; but behold what this small beginning has developed into today!
    3. God knows human limitations, what might be called, "The day of small things" -
      1. Little knowledge.
      2. In need of being fed with milk.
      3. Defective in character.
      4. Weak in faith.
      5. Nothing to boast of but the grace of God.
  3. How grateful we must ever be that God does not despise the day of small things as far as we are concerned:
    1. We are comparable to "miry clay" - Ps. 40:2
    2. "A worm and no man" - Ps. 22:6
    3. All the nations are "counted as nothing" - Isa. 40:15
    4. That God in mercy thought of us, and gave his only Son to raise us from a life of total unworthiness to a place of honor in His kingdom!
    5. Let us, therefore, not despise the day of small things; but rather be grateful that in God's sight there is nothing small.


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