Small Steps, Big Picture
Contend for a life of meaning by centering your life in Christ and serving by the power of the Spirit.
“There was a certain man…whose name was Elkanah…He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty…In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord…May your servant find favor in your eyes…Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord…and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord.” 1 Samuel 1:1-3, 10-28
We love stories with happy endings. There is a reason why Disney produces blockbuster movie after a blockbuster movie. Hannah does get a happy ending although with a unique twist that most people did not see coming. When she gets her greatest desire, she in turn dedicates her dream to God. She makes sure God is glorified through her desires. But what if you are the person who is in the middle of doing all you can only to not see any way of your dream coming to fulfillment? What if you were somewhere between a dream that feels dead and wondering what to do next?
Hannah shows us how to contend for your dreams without knowing how Christ will move on your behalf. Look at the pattern for how she lived. She did not take offense when others ridiculed her, she sought the Lord honestly consistently, and after pouring out her heart, she ate and then acted with expectation. It says she got up early the next morning and worshiped? Is that your approach? Are you faithful and Small steps of obedience trusting that God will do the big miracle on your behalf?
“The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.” The Lord will write in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.” As they make music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.” Psalms 87:2, 5-7
It is easy to make life all about us. It makes sense. We look in the mirror, we clothe ourselves, our mind is shaped by our experiences. It’s easy for the world to revolve around ourselves. But that’s not how God looks at things. No man is an island. We are not meant to live disconnected life chasing our own dreams apart and disregarding the rest of the world around us.
God is not just working in individual lives, but building a people, a city, a place of belonging where even outsiders are counted as citizens. Aseph reminds us with this song that what God builds includes people we would never expect, and that our identity is found in Him, not in where we came from. Can you see how God has you exactly where he wants you? Do you know how He wants to help you find meaning by building up others as you to build up the city?
“I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I amassed silver and gold for myself…I acquired…the delights of a man’s heart. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness” Ecclesiastes 2:1-26
We live in the ultimate consumer culture. More, more, more! You need to get more! Our world tells us to make sure we are happy and to take what you deserve. This mindset leads people to divorce, being in debt, and deepening despair. Solomon tried all these things and he found himself feeling empty. Did power help him find purpose? No. Did pleasure help him draw closer to God? No. Did planting or producing great wealth help him sleep better at night? No. The text says he hated all of it. Do you ever stop to ask why you do what you do? Have you considered what would give your life meaning?
Can you relate to Solomon? Have you tried running down the wrong roads only to find they left you feeling more empty than when you started. Have you put your trust in people, places, or possessions and found that when you got what you wanted it was not what you needed? Wisdom strips away the illusion that human effort, pleasure, achievement, or accumulation can ultimately satisfy. Solomon had everything the world could offer, and yet he calls it vapor, something that cannot hold weight.
Just like Hannah, in the midst of his pain, in the middle of his sorrows, Solomon makes a beautiful transition. He awakens to the reality that meaning can be found as you use your strengths and gifts to please God rather than yourself. He sees that everything is from God and for God. What are your deepest desires? If you got what you want, would it glorify God? Would you respond to like Hannah and devote or dedicate whatever you received for him?
“Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up…He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps…He answered, “Do you not know what these are?” So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. “Who dares despise the day of small things” Zechariah 4:1-2, 5-6, 10
The angel tells us the secret to finding a life of meaning and it starts with the small things. Who dares despise the day of small things he asks? Hannah did not despise the small acts of sacrifice, prayer, and worship. She leaned into God when she had very little idea of whether her prayer would be answered. Following Jesus is a lot more of stacking days where we do the small things, small acts of kindness with a faithful heart to God than seeing miraculous signs every day. It is Long obedience in the same direction by seeing the beauty of each day and celebrating the small things. This is the gift of God.
Everything meaningful is done not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. The work of God whether it is rebuilding a temple, restoring a life, or forming a people, is accomplished through His Spirit, not through human striving. Have you been striving? Have you been trying to do things on your own? How much time do you devote to listening to the spirit and doing the small things you sense God telling you to do?
“Dear friends…I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith…I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt…remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ…Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy”Jude 1:3-5, 17-25
Jude issues a challenge to contend for your faith and remember how God has already been working on your behalf while you were in the midst of the crisis of captivity. He says remember Egypt. Why do you think he takes us back to that time. Egypt was a time of pain, slavery, and oppression. Egypt was a time where the people had dreams that had died and where they did not see their prayers answered for four hundred years. Remembering Egypt reminds us that God's timing is not our timing, His plan is not our plan, and Egypt is part of a bigger picture of how He redeems His people. Remembering how God moved yesterday gives us strength to takes small steps of obedience today.
In Samuel, it said the Lord remembered Hannah and blessed her. He tells us to remember and hold fast to the truth that God is always working ahead of us, and in the midst of all we were doing. Jude wants to make sure we are aware of the competing voices in our heads. Not all memories produce courage and the will to contend for Christ. Not all memories help us move closer to our divine design. There is an enemy to your life who wants to rob you of your blessing. He wants to get you to doubt God and doubt yourself. Jude warns against people who listen to the voice of the enemy and the voice of a consumer culture that does not draw us closer to Christ. What voices are currently playing in your head? Are they life giving and growing your confidence in Christ?
In a world full of distractions, false voices, and empty promises, he calls believers to remain rooted building themselves up in faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, and keeping themselves in the love of God. It’s a call to discernment and endurance, but also to compassion pulling others out of the fire with mercy. Jude is showing us with a life of meaning looks like representative of what Solomon told us would please God. We glorify God when we go after the very people that He made and wants to save. The question is whether your heart’s desires align with God’s.
All of history is His story. Our lives have been born into His kingdom, His plan to build up Zion, his plan to redeem and return all people to Him. We need to see how we fit into that story not write our own. Your part is to trust Him, stay close to Him, and walk by His Spirit in the smallest times day by day; moment by moment as we are led and empowered by the Spirit.
When you do, even what feels small, unseen, or insufficient becomes part of something eternal and you will experience the power of God at work in you. So get ready. Consecrate yourself today for tomorrow God will do something far beyond what you could ask or imagine.