When exiled Israel began to return to the promised land, God gave them a mandate. Rebuild the temple! Build back the center of Israel’s spiritual life, the place where God’s presence would dwell among his people, newly restored in the land he had given him. When they laid the new foundation there was a great celebration in Jerusalem, but that celebration was mixed. There were still older Israelites who remembered the glory of the first temple. The new temple’s modest foundation couldn’t compare to the glory of the original.
The prophet Zechariah had a simple message for those who were tempted to scorn the new work that God had done. “Whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice” (Zech. 4:10). His co-worker prophet Haggai echoed that message from the Lord: “the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former…and in this place I will give peace” (Hag. 2:9).
I thought of this story while I was reading through the Christmas story in Luke. It occurred to me how beautifully God worked through the small and easily despised at Jesus’ birth. There was Bethlehem, “too little to be among the clans of Judah” (Mic. 5:2), home of the original too-small king David. There were the shepherds—humble people doing a humble job isolated on the hillside. Then there was the birth itself—some travelers in an animal pen, and a humble teenage girl laying the Son of God in a manger. Through those small things God has brought about the most glorious thing imaginable—the redemption of the world through the incarnate Christ.
One of my prayers for us is that we would be people who do not despise the small things. I don’t mean our creature comforts, or “the little things” that might bring some pleasure (though there’s room for that too). I mean the humble things that are of no account in our world. Little acts of service toward the poor, the middle-class, and even the powerful. Quiet acts of everyday endurance and patience that no one sees, and that bring us no credit. We may not see it now, but those humble acts are the threads of love that God will weave into the church’s wedding garment (Rev. 19:8).
Do not despise the day of small things. From Jesus’ birth to the crucifixion and beyond, it is God’s pattern to bring from them a greater glory than anything else we might have expected or hoped for. Remember that when it seems that faithfulness brings no immediate fruit, or when obedience is just boring. May God give us eyes to see what he sees in the midst of them, and the grace to love as he has loved us.
Justin