Read 2 Chronicles 19-20 and Zechariah 4.
This devotional is about Zechariah 4.
God was moving his people back to Jerusalem in the days of Zechariah. A man named Zerubbabel was the leader in charge of rebuilding God’s temple (v. 9). In this chapter, the Lord sent some encouragement to him.
The people who returned to Jerusalem were poor. They had an immense amount of work to do rebuilding the city and the temple; but the resources they had to do that work were miniscule.
A massive job to do and few resources to use can easily result in discouragement. God sent Zechariah to Zerubbabel to remind him that he had the ultimate resource in God. How would he be able to rebuild that temple? “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (v. 6). The natural, financial, and human resources at Zerubbabel’s disposal were few, but the only resource he needed was spiritual–the power of almighty God.
As a result, neither Zerubbabel nor God’s people should give up or be discouraged by meager beginnings. As verse 10 says, “Who dares despise the day of small things….” Everything that exists once started as something small and modest. Every large church, for example, was once a small church; indeed, it was once merely the idea and desire of a small group of people. If God is in the project, it will not be stopped; if he is not in it, it will not ultimately succeed.
Are you ever tempted to look at your ministry or your life or something else that belongs to God and think, “This is never going to amount to anything!” Verse 10 is for you: “Who dares despise the day of small things…?” Trust God that the desire to serve him matters. Your resources may be few and the beginning may be humble, but God is more than powerful enough to make something great.