“Lord, Do Something Small”

This morning when I cleaned off my desk, I found a piece of lined yellow paper on which I had scribbled some notes. It appears to be a page of notes for a talk I gave, but in looking at it I can’t recall the occasion. I did notice that halfway down the page, I jotted down a prayer that I vaguely remember having seen somewhere:

“Lord, do something small.”

That prayer caught my attention because it goes against our natural inclination. We like the big, bold, dramatic move of God. I understand the feeling. I may have said something like this myself: “If you’re going to pray, you mighty as well pray a big prayer.”

But bigness relates only to us, not to God.

The one who spoke the vast galaxies into place is not likely to be awed by our “big” prayers. “Big” and “small” are purely human concepts. 

What does the Creator of the universe regard at “big"? Which is harder for him, to create a supernova or to design a baby blue robin’s egg? 

There is a certain wisdom behind the prayer, “Lord, do something small?”

First, it shakes us free of our addiction to bigness as the measure of success.
Second, it focuses us on the next step, not the end result.
Third, it reminds us that God’s ways are not our ways.

He can do a lot with a little. Goliath learned that the hard way.

When God starts with something small, he may eventually make it into something big. And by starting small, he gets the credit when big things result.

So here’s a good prayer for today. “Lord, do something small.”

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free weekly email sermon.