You were born little, with bigness in your DNA.
You were born naked, longing to be warmed and dressed.
You were born penniless, and learned fairly quickly that this was not good.
Even of you’re a twin or other multiple, you were born completely alone, but wired to be relational.
You were born on purpose. And your purpose may still lie in front of you. (What DO you want to be when you grow up?)
To get from here to there, you will most likely pass through a series of completely lame, boring, and maddeningly time-consuming stages. Yes, you’ll experience a few leaps. For the rest, you’d better get used to celebrating some baby steps.
God called it the Day of Small Things.
The Day of Small Things is the crawl that comes before the walk. The work that comes before the reward. The doing-something-anything that comes before doing something awesome. It’s boot camp and kindergarten, school and internships, and progress-before-perfection.
The Day of Small Things invites an array of temptations: Skip this step. Despise the efforts. Cheat the process. Give up because of the waiting.
Zerubbabel understood the Day of Small Things. He was rebuilding the temple of God in what looked like a shell of its former glory. It was viewed with scorn, derision, and disappointment. The old timers took one look at the foundation alone and wept aloud. The enemies of Israel look in contempt and mockery.
None of this would have mattered if Zerubbabel and his builders simply kept building. But they didn’t. So here, tucked into Zechariah’s vision-based encouraging word, is a rhetorical question: “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). Then God supplies His own answer. Whoever it is, they will witness Zerubbabel – the man who laid the cornerstone – set the capstone in place.
Old timers will lead us to despise the Day of Small Things. They will remember the good old days, and if allowed, will remind us of the comparative littleness of our efforts.
Contemporaries will lead us to despise the Day of Small Things. There will always be somebody who does it bigger, faster, cooler, richer, apparently better. The temptation will be to try to short-circuit the process or to give up entirely.
Enemies will lead us to despise the Day of Small Things. This reminds me of Satan’s temptations of Christ at the beginning of His ministry. All were temptations to despise the Day of Small Things.
- Lust of the flesh – “command these stones.” Bypass your humanity.
- Lust of the eyes – “bow to me and I’ll give you all these things.” Reign without a cross.
- Pride of life – “jump off the temple.” Make a name for yourself.
It’s important to see through these encouragements from both Zechariah and Haggai that God was involved in the day of small things – perhaps even more so than in the original temple. When He’s involved, we can trust that in His timing, He provides the increase. All He requires of us is faithfulness and faith. Keep building. Keep walking. Keep obeying. And keep ignoring the groans of those who despise or ignore what you’re doing.
You’re too old to remember how your parents celebrated those first baby steps. Or the first time you reached for something, said what they knew were your first words, or laughed uncontrollably. But you’re not too old to celebrate the progress you are experiencing today. Let this two-minute video be a reminder to laugh in the Day of Small Things.
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