English Article:The God of Small things! | Pastor Jibin Mathew,Dehradun
things” –by Arundhati Roy. Till today, I haven’t got the time to read it, but
the title led my mind to a lot of biblical lessons that needed to be
reminded.
The world, which is running after the great, successful things and after
the people, there is a God who values the small and the weak.
Today’s worldly parenting ignores the importance of teaching/
introducing Values from small Lessons/ useful things to their children
and often end up in great tragedies such as children being suicidal over
small failures. Because they are trained in a way to race after the great
things and so-called successful people of this world.
But what does God and his word teaches us?
1. God who teaches us great lessons from Small things.
He teaches us the reality of our lives from grass and a flower of the
field. Psalm 103:14 opens up our eyes to see how short and small our
life is. Even after some generations our descendance won’t recognise
us just like how we don’t recognise our forefathers who lived and died
some centuries ago. Realisation of this great lesson can bring peace
within us and help us to end unnecessary worldly and self- centred
wise. Ant who collects and stores up its food before monsoon. But if it
fails, then there is no food and joy for the ant for the entire monsoon
season. This lesson teaches us many truths of life that there is a
season for everything (Eccl. 3) and we must act according to the
season just like how the ant does. This may be a season of hard work
and patience.
Non-seasonal enjoyments/acts always end up bringing sorrows in our
lives instead of joy. For example, in the life of a bachelor/ spinster,
there is a time/season for them to be away from all the sexual
pleasures and physical intimacy. The bible says in Proverb 5:18 to
“Rejoice in the wife of your youth”. God kept the Joy of complete
intimacy in marital life and encourages us to Rejoice in it. There is a
season for that too. But the non-seasonal enjoyments such as
fornication, adultery leads us to sorrows not to the fullness of joy.
Bible clearly tells us that a dead fly can spoil the entire perfume oil
(Eccl.10:1) which teaches us, how we need to avoid ungodly
companies in our life which can destroy our entire character. Also, it
reminds us that the Sin which we count as Fun and small can destroy
us and separate us from the divine relationship with God who is holy.
A Great lesson about how a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
How wonderful are the great lessons that we learn from the small
examples and things of this world, Jesus uses the same strategy in his
parables, by teaching us the lessons of faith from a small mustard
seed and many more.
2. God who stands for the small and weakest.
it is very rare to see, people standing with the small and weakest
ones of this world, but the bible in Proverbs encourages us to stand
with the weakest and speak for those who cannot speak for
themselves. (Proverbs 31:8) I feel, this can be one of the great
reasons behind Christian’s standing against abortion. I found, that the
unborn are the real ones who cannot speak for themselves.
Psalm 82: 3 encourages us to “stand up for those who are weak
and those whose fathers have died. See to it that those who are poor
Christ did through his life and ministries. He came seeking and saving
those who were lost and became a comforter for those who were
outcasted by the society. His selection of disciples is yet another
example which teaches us a lot about how he cares and values the
smallest of this world.
Luke 12:24 says “consider the ravens; they do not sow or reap,
they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much
more valuable you are than birds”. How wonderful is the provision of
the almighty even from the smallest to the greatest! In bible we see a
God who always stood up with the smallest, weakest and the helpless.
Jesus Christ was the voice of deliverance for those who were
perishing and helpless in their sinful situations.
3. God who selects the smallest and the weakest to do greater
things.
1 Corinthians 1: 27 says that; “God chose the foolish things
of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this
world to shame the strong”.
In bible we can see many examples for this;
Gideon and his army of three hundred, defeated a strong and
mighty army by the power of God.
David’s fight against Goliath is another example of how God
selects the small and weakest of this world to do such great things. It
is also a reminder for all of us to know that how powerful and strong
we are in Christ Jesus. That’s the realisation Paul is portraying in
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me.”
When the wise of this world boast in their wisdom and power which
is partial and incomplete, God in whom there is fullness of wisdom and
power, stands and selects the smallest and the weakest of this world
to accomplish greater things.
If anyone thinks that I’m weak, the Bible promises that there is a God
who stands with us as our strength even in our weaknesses. He is ready