DON'T OVERLOOK THE SMALL

At Chick-fil-A, there are an average of 55,000 transactions a month.  Each order usually includes at least one or more packets of their dipping sauces.  These packets cost Chick-fil-A 15 cents each, costing the average store over $8,000 per month.  This is almost $100,000 per year.  This is an example of how something little can become something big in due time.   

This is also true in our homes because it’s the small daily aggravations and reactions that can add up to big eruptions. 

Christian counselors will tell you that if couples would attend to the 5 percent, the small things;  the unfaithfulness may not have happened, differences could have been overcome, and the divorce wouldn’t have occurred. 

They would tell you that the seven marks of maturity include:

·      Keeping the long-term commitments

·       Not being shaken by flattery or criticism: 

·      Having a spirit of humility

·      Making decisions based on character, not feelings 

·       Expressing gratitude consistently

·      Being sensitive to other people’s needs

·      Seeking wisdom before acting 

In the book of Genesis is the story of Joseph, son of Jacob.  His brothers became very jealous of him because their father made a coat of many colors, especially for him.  This coat represented favoritism, less demand for physical labor, and special privileges.  On top of this, Joseph was gifted with receiving spiritual dreams and being able to interpret them.  Two of his dreams revealed that the day would come when his family would actually be subservient to him and would even bow to him. 

Joseph’s brothers came to despise him so much that when the opportunity presented itself, they sold him into slavery and faked his death to Jacob.  By God’s mercy and grace, Joseph was placed in Potiphar’s house in Egypt, who was a prominent ruler.  Potiphar’s wife was physically drawn to Joseph and tried to seduce him.  Joseph wisely ran from her, which caused her to become enraged.  To avenge herself, she lied about Joseph, causing him to be unjustly thrown into prison.  His imprisonment lasted for many years.  In due time, God set things up so that something small became something big and led to Joseph’s deliverance from prison.  It also led to him becoming second in command to Pharaoh.  The chief cupbearer and baker had been thrown into prison with Joseph.  Both of them had dreams, but didn’t know the interpretation of them. 

Genesis 40:6-8a-  And Joseph came in to them, in the morning, and looked at them, and saw that they were sad.  So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today.”?  And they said to him, ‘We each have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpretation of it……”

This “small” encounter was a major key to Joseph’s deliverance and promotion.   Even though Joseph was sad, he got beyond his own problems and saw that they were sad.  Joseph chose to use his gifting to serve others in need, even while the need was so great in his own life.  He let the cupbearer know that his dream revealed that he would be restored to his previous duty of serving the king.  He also let the baker know that he would be hanged and lose his life shortly. 

Things turned out just as Joseph predicted, and then two years went by:  

Genesis 41:1,2- Then it came to pass, at the end of the two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.  Suddenly, there came up out of the river seven cows, fine-looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow.

Notice that the cows came up out of a river.  I believe it is the same spiritual river being spoken of in the Psalms: 

Psalm 46:4-7- There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.  God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.  The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and was set free from prison, then promoted to second-in-command over all of Egypt.  His promotion and dream interpretation not only saved his life, it saved the lives of thousands of Egyptians and also the lives of his own family.   This was all made possible because of the little thing Joseph did when he observed the cupbearer and baker, ‘he saw them and asked them ‘Why are you so sad?”

It is God who shows us time and time again throughout Scripture that He is able to do much with the small.  In the Old Testament, the widow gave Elijah a little oil and flour.  God performed a miracle so that she and her son ate well until the famine was over.   Rahab displayed a red cloth outside her window in Jericho.  All of those in her city were killed except her.  In the New Testament, a little boy gave up his lunch of five loaves and two fish, and over 5,000 were fed.  Peter loaned Jesus his boat so He could preach and be heard.  Jesus returned the favor by telling him to launch out for a catch.  So many fish were caught that he had to call his friends over with their boat to contain the abundance. 

The common thread in all these stories is the word “obedience”.  Because of faith and obedience, men and women took small actions that brought back miraculous results.  Don’t overlook the small things.   Especially those small things that you know are being asked of you by God.