Little Is Much When God is Involved

So the Lord asked him, “What are you holding?” “A walking stick,” he answered. The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” When Moses threw it down, it turned into a snake, and he ran away from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach down and pick it up by the tail.” So Moses reached down and caught it, and it became a walking stick again. The Lord said, “Do this to prove to the Israelites that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to you.” Exodus 4:2-5 GNT

When God called Moses and gave him an assignment to go to Egypt and lead the children of Israel out, he was hesitant. He felt inadequate and was convinced that he was not the right man for that kind of job. One of his major concerns was what would happen if the Israelites didn’t believe that God had revealed Himself to him. At this point, God asked Moses what he was holding. Moses had something in his hand and it was just a simple walking stick or a staff. He was using this staff to take care of Jethro’s sheep and goats. Yet, it’s this same staff that God used to perform miracles and wonders in Egypt. If you were to ask Moses, he would have told you that it’s just a walking stick, what can it do? But when God got involved, it became such a powerful instrument that Moses used in his entire calling and life to accomplish God’s plans and purposes.

The Lord directed Elijah to go to the town of Zarephath and stay there. He had commanded a widow there to take care of him. When he found her, he asked for water and some bread. But she answered;

“By the living Lord your God I swear that I haven’t got any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a drop of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death” ~ 1 Kings 17:12

Elijah told her not to worry about it for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:

‘the bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.’

The widow did as Elijah instructed and all of them had enough food for many days. As the Lord had promised through him, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

The widow of a member of a group of prophets went to Elisha and said, “Sir, my husband has died! As you know, he was a God-fearing man, but now a man he owed money to has come to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband’s debt.” 2 Kings 4:1 GNT

Elisha asked her what she had at home and she answered,

“Nothing at all, except a small jar of olive oil” (verse 2).

He then instructed her to “go to your neighbors and borrow as many empty jars as you can,” and “Then you and your sons go into the house, close the door and start pouring oil into the jars. Set each one aside as soon as it is full” ~ (verse 3, 4).

She did as she was instructed until the last one was full. She went back to Elisha, the prophet, who said to her, “Sell the olive oil and pay all your debts, and there will be enough money left over for you and your sons to live on” (verse 7)

A large crowd followed Jesus and when he looked around and saw that many were coming to him, he asked Phillip, “Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?” Phillip answered, “For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins to buy enough bread.” Another of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people” ~ John 6: 5-9

Jesus instructed His disciples to make the people sit down and they did. There were about 5000 men. He took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted.

Truth is, you are not empty; you have something. Many of us are in hopeless situations and we are busy scratching our heads and wondering what to do. When you look at all these instances, you will realize that all those involved were in a dilemma and didn’t know what to do. What’s amazing is that they underestimated what they had because it was small and insignificant in their eyes, but when God got involved, everything changed. What they thought was nothing or what they ignored is what God used to turn their situations around.

Many of us have great plans, projects and things we want to do and accomplish. But when we look at our finances, we wonder how it’s going to work. We tend to think that some things are beyond our reach because we don’t have what it takes. Our inadequacies and lack are our major obstacles when it comes to doing great things and accomplishing our divine assignments. But what if we turned our eyes from our ‘smallness’ to the ‘bigness’ of the God who has called us? We need to begin to trust God to do, accomplish and have more because He is unlimited. That which you think is small and insignificant before you is what God needs to propel you to another level. Release it to Him and He will help you.