However, God does require one who will yield to His requests-a humble and meek person. But God does not always need a strong, talented, articulate individual to accomplish His purpose and speak for Him. Many would have excelled in speech over Moses. How could he represent God? There would have likely been better men in Israel to pick for this task. He recognized that one of his deficiencies was being poor in speech. Scripture reveals that Moses was the meekest man in all the earth(Numbers 12:3). But given the proper circumstance and the direction by God, it spelled victory for Israel. What awesome power in a small, insignificant object! By itself, it was worthless. This one pebble was all that was necessary. Instead, He turned to an insignificant shepherd boy who was instructed to gather five smooth pebbles. Israel's king, his armor and all his army stood powerless. These five pebbles, combined with a homemade sling, possessed a potential power, but only one of those little stones was required to defeat the giant enemy of Israel. We are told of five pebbles, small and round, in 1 Samuel 17:39-40 that were gathered by the boy David before he faced Goliath. The power of small things is also shown in an ordinary pebble. It came to be known as 'manna.' It appeared so insignificant that its very name means, 'What is it?' Yet it provided food for all the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. In Exodus 16:14-15, a reference is made to a small thing that lay on the ground. The Scriptures reveal several little things that demonstrate that nothing is too small for God to use for His wise purposes. Therefore, in many cases nothing is too small for God to use for His purposes. The Lord can transform an insignificant stone into something functional and beautiful. This small beginning would reveal a powerful truth. The Prophet's message then was to start building, one stone at a time. Yet there could be no temple without the individual stones. The building of the temple required many individual stones, small elements that would make up the large building. Little things are important, not because of what they are in themselves, but because they can be part of something greater. Where would they start to rebuild? Considering Zechariah's question, several things become apparent. Private residences were demolished, and the place was more like a wilderness than a city. When they arrived, they were shocked to find the result of 70 years of desolation. What were the circumstances that caused Zechariah to ask this question?Īt the time, the Israelites were released from Babylon and permitted to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple.

The prophet Zechariah made a profound declaration in Zechariah 4:10:

The god of little things