Don’t Despise Small Beginnings

 
Some days I feel like I can whip the world!!!



Then there are other times, like today, when I feel small; inconsequential.

Maybe insignificant or unimportant would be better words!!! 



But it is in these times that GOD reminds me that I do NOT and cannot see myself through HIS EYES!!!



In MY FATHER’S EYES, that’s what matters!!!  It’s what GOD thinks of me that matters!!!



Proverbs 30:24-33 (NKJV)

²⁴ There are four things which are little on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵ The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they prepare their food in the summer;

²⁶ The rock badgers are a feeble folk,
Yet they make their homes in the crags;

²⁷ The locusts have no king,
Yet they all advance in ranks;

²⁸ The spider skillfully grasps with its hands,
And it is in kings’ palaces.



You know, I never really thought of it before, but spiders are indeed even found in King’s Palaces!!! 



And although ants seem to aggravating, pesky little creatures, GOD calls them wise because they are smart enough to store up food for the winter.  



You can knock an ant hill down and they will build it back one small piece at a time, and before you know it they have rebuilt the whole mound.



Don’t despise small beginnings!!!



I have heard it said many times over the last couple of years that we should NOT despise small beginnings, but I had no idea where this scripture was in the Bible. 



I don’t really remember ever hearing anyone preach about this.  So, tonight I looked this up and was amazed at what I found!!! 



Zechariah 4:6-14 (KJV)

⁶ Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁷ Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

⁸ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

⁹ The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.

¹⁰ For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

¹¹ Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

¹² And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

¹³ And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

¹⁴ Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.



I found that this scripture was speaking of Gideon, who GOD renamed Zerubbabel; and made a great leader in Israel.  IN GOD’S EYES, GIDEON WAS TRULY A MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR!!!



This is the same Gideon who hid by his father’s winepress to thresh wheat because he was scared of the Midianites.   



Judges 6:11-16 (KJV)

¹¹ And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

¹³ And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

¹⁴ And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

¹⁵ And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

¹⁶ And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.



Gideon couldn’t see himself as GOD saw him!!!  GOD saw him as a mighty man of GOD, one who would bring victory and deliverance to Israel!!!




Judges 7:15-25 (KJV)

¹⁵ And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

¹⁶ And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.

¹⁷ And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.

¹⁸ When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

¹⁹ So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

²⁰ And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

²¹ And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

²² And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

²³ And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

²⁴ And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.

²⁵ And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.



And because GOD used a man called Gideon, Israel was indeed delivered from the hands of the Midianites and they had rest for 40 years!!! 

Judges 8:28 (KJV) Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.



Gideon was a mighty man of God because that is what GOD said he was!!! 



Who does GOD say you are? 



Who are you in the FATHER’S EYES???