The Day of Small Things

Read‍

Zechariah 4:6-10 "So he said to me, 'This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the LORD Almighty. What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of "God bless it! God bless it!"' Then the word of the LORD came to me: 'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. 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?'"

Think

Here is the situation behind this passage, and you need it to feel the weight of the last line.

God's people had come home after being held captive in a foreign country for seventy years. The temple, the center of everything, had been destroyed. So a man named Zerubbabel started rebuilding it, and when the new foundation was laid, something strange happened.

The younger people celebrated. And the old men, the ones who were kids the first time around and could still remember the original building, wept out loud. Not with joy. The new one was so much smaller. Compared to what it used to be, it looked like nothing.

So the crew rebuilding it is standing on a foundation that half the crowd is openly disappointed by. And that is when God sends a message.

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."

Then, a few lines later, the sentence that should stay with you all day. "Who dares despise the day of small things?"

Read that as a real question, because it is one. Who told you small things do not matter? Where exactly did you learn that a thing has to be big to count?

Because you did learn it somewhere. Everything around you teaches it constantly. Numbers on a screen. Who got the most attention. Whether it was big enough to be worth mentioning. You have been trained since you were small to measure things by their size, and God is directly challenging the training.

And notice he does not say small things are fine. He does not say to not worry about it. He asks who dares despise them, which is much stronger language. He is treating the dismissal of small beginnings as arrogance.

Then look at the strangest detail in the passage. It says the eyes of the LORD range throughout the whole earth and they rejoice when they see one man holding one stone.

God is scanning the entire planet, and what stops him and delights him is not a spectacle. It is a guy with a rock, finishing something he started.

Bring that into your actual week.

One text you send tonight to somebody you have been meaning to talk to. One seat in your car. One invitation that takes eleven seconds to say and three days to work up to. One friend, one time. It will feel like a foundation somebody is standing next to crying because it is not bigger.

And the God whose eyes range throughout the whole earth rejoices over it.

Here is the other thing verse 9 promises, and it is worth carrying. The hands that laid the foundation will also complete it. God does not start things in people and then wander off. The small beginning is not a test you might fail. It is the front edge of something he intends to finish.

So stop waiting for the version of obedience that would look impressive if somebody described it out loud.

By his Spirit rather than by might or power, through one ordinary person doing one small thing on a Wednesday.

What is the small thing you have been putting off because it did not seem big enough to bother with?

Apply

Send the first text tonight – One Night is one week from tonight, Wednesday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. Before there is a room, a band, or a message, there is one student typing one sentence to one friend, and Zechariah says the eyes of the Lord range through the whole earth and stop on exactly that. Open your phone before you go to sleep, tell one person what is happening and when, and tell them you want them there with you.

Pray

God, I have been despising small things my whole life without realizing it. I keep waiting for something big enough to be worth doing. Thank you that you rejoice over one person doing one small thing. Help me do mine today instead of waiting. In Jesus' name. Amen.