Finding Significance in Small Beginnings
So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 1 Kings 19:19 (NKJV)
When you treat the small things like they are big things, the big things become small things. In the book Win the Day, the author tells how the only way to cross the Niagara Gorge in the mid-eighteenth century was by boat. On November 9, 1847, a civil engineer named Charles Ellet Jr. was commissioned to build a suspension bridge across the chasm. Ellet naturally chose the narrowest neck, but it still presented an impossible challenge. How do you stretch the first wire across an 800-foot gorge with 225-foot cliffs on either side and rapids that rush toward a waterfall? The answer...a kite! On January 30, 1848, a fifteen-year-old named Homan Walsh flew his kite across the gorge. This allowed a stronger line to be attached to the kite string and pulled across. Then an even stronger line. Then a rope. Then, a cable consisting of thirty-six strands of ten-gauge wire; and it all started with one kite string! Sometimes, the greatest accomplishments start with mundane acts of faithfulness.
In 1 Kings, we read of the heroic acts of Elisha. Elisha is the one who parted the Jordan River, he prayed that the oil of a single mother would never run out, he raised a boy to life, and even healed the leprosy of an army commander named Naaman. Yet, Elisha’s day did not start off in the miraculous, rather, he was called by God when he was doing something very mundane - plowing a field with a pair of oxen. Could it be that what we call mundane is really God’s way of preparing us for more? Throughout the Bible, we find God calling people to a life of more while doing something that was apparently insignificant. For instance, Moses was herding sheep before he heard God calling Him from a fiery bush, David was also taking care of sheep before Samuel called him to be anointed as king, and Jesus called Peter while he was fishing. Sometimes the best indication of how a person will treat you in a big thing is how they treat small things in life. In fact the Bible encourages us to, “…not despise these small beginnings…” (Zechariah 4:10).
Do not underestimate the impact of remaining faithful in small things. Although it may seem like it is not making a difference and no one notices or even cares, God notices even the little things. Do not underestimate the difference your smile makes to someone, the encouraging text message you send, or the impromptu prayer you had with a discouraged classmate. You may be making a bigger difference than you could ever imagine, just like that little boy’s kite string led to a suspension bridge being built over the Niagara Gorge.
REFLECTION
How does the story of Elisha's calling while plowing with oxen remind you of instances in your own life when God may have called you to something significant in the midst of everyday tasks or routines?
Reflect on a time when you treated a seemingly small or mundane task with great care and faithfulness. Did that experience lead to unexpected blessings or opportunities in your life?
Why do you think God often chooses to call people to greater purposes during ordinary moments? What do you believe He might be teaching us through these situations?
How can you apply the lesson from this devotional in your daily life, striving to treat small things with significance and faithfulness, knowing that God notices and can use these moments for His greater purposes?
