The Ways of God: Small Things

Admin
Sep 18
4 min read

Is. 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (NIV)

In a world as crazy as the one we live in it is comforting to know that there are higher ways than man’s ways. But this has always been the case it seems. In Exodus 33:13, Moses asked God to show him his ways if God was pleased with him. What an exquisite prayer that is. It is one that each of us should pray on a daily basis. To know God’s ways and to be intimately acquainted with them would be a treasure worth giving up everything to attain.

Father’s Ways

How does Father work with us? We know from the Bible stories that God walked with Adam in the cool of the day. We know that Enoch walked with God and was no more. We have read that God would appear as a man and visit with Abraham. But how does Father work with us?

When I think about an encounter with the God of the Universe, my mind imagines a scene similar to what John saw in Rev. 14 with a throne surrounded by flashes of lightning and thunder or perhaps like when Isaiah saw God sitting on his throne with angels and seraphim flying about him. Whatever the case, I would imagine something majestic and awesome in appearance kind of like what the nation of Israel saw as the stood at the base of Mount Sinai in the desert. The Scripture says that the top of the mountain was covered in fire and smoke, and the people were terrified. Perhaps it might be a little more low-key like we see in Matthew 3:16-17 when Jesus is being baptized and the voice of God rumbles out of heaven.

We expect something loud and splashy or something grand and glorious. We expect a spectacle. We actually want to see something spectacular and unforgettable, but that is not the way Father usually completes his work with us. How does he work with us? What we find is that he generally chooses to do his work using small and simple things.

Small and Simple Things

The Word is actually full of instances where God chose small, foolish things to confound the strength and wisdom of man. Instead of showing up as an armored warrior with legions of angels at his back, he might choose instead to use a man like Gideon.

Gideon was a simple man, but his army of 300 men went on to defeat an enemy army of more than 100,000. That is only one example. Moses used a dried out stick he found in the desert to confound the magicians in Egypt, to open a path in the sea, and to defeat the armies of Egypt. David took down a giant warrior with a sling and a stone. Elijah was sustained by the widow in Zarephath during a three-year drought with just a tiny bit of oil and flour that never ran out, and Jesus fed a crowd of more than five thousand men along with their wives and children with just five loaves of barley bread and two fish.

But perhaps the smallest and most foolish thing of all that God has done in all of history is choosing a teenage girl in Nazareth to become the mother of a tiny baby who would save the world from the disease we call sin. It would seem that God often chooses the small, the simple, the overlooked, and the unexpected to show us his ways.

Teach Us Your Ways

Many people spend a lifetime waiting, watching, or expecting God to work in those life-changing, awe-inspiring, knock-your-socks-off ways. While there are have been moments throughout history where this kind of thing has happened, it is not God’s usual way of working in our lives. Typically, he opts for the small and simple ways of coming to our rescue, intervening in our affairs, or meeting us in those desperate moments that we find ourselves in sometimes.

It may be using an unsuspecting, ordinary individual to accomplish an amazing, unprecedented accomplishment like Gideon. It may be using a commonplace, unimpressive object in our possession to achieve astonishing and unbelievable results like Moses’ rod. Or it could be using extremely limited resources to meet an insurmountable need or demand like Elijah and Jesus had happen to them.

There is one other simple means that Father uses to accomplish these wondrous kinds of things, and each of us have the capacity to be used in this way: he uses our words. Small and simple words are powerful ways that Father can work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. To those who are facing difficulty or are lost in grief or despair, offering a kind word of support or encouragement can make all the difference in their moment of need. In such moments, each of us can offer a true word that dispels unbelief or doubt. Just offering the right word at the right time can be a real gift to someone who is struggling. Small words, simple words, yet effective words.

Solomon wrote in Prov. 25:11 that the right word in the right moment can be a valuable gift that we can offer. Each of us have been or will be given multiple opportunities throughout our lives to assist others in this simple way. One major problem that we face, however, is that we tend to discount the value of our abilities and all too often shy away from those opportunities to share a kind word. We need to remember that Father uses the small and simple things of life to accomplish the bulk of his work. We just need to be willing to allow him to use us in those small and simple ways to accomplish his work.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®