GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 4:31
The Importance of Samll Beginnings
Following the Jews’ return from the Babylonian captivity, Zerubbabel led the effort to rebuild the temple. However, one thing after another thwarted his efforts—lack of money, outside opposition, internal apathy, and lack of personnel. The prophet Zechariah tried to encourage Zerubbabel, for there was no way that the governor would be able to rebuild Jerusalem or the temple that could compare with the splendor of Solomon’s temple. The prophet said, “For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10) That statement has been paraphrased to “Despise not the day of small beginnings.”
When Jesus tried to describe the Kingdom of God to his disciples, he used the parable of the mustard seed: “Like a grain of mustard, which, when it has been sown on the earth, being the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.” (Mark 4:31) Writers understand this parable in many ways, including the idea that one should never be daunted by small beginnings. Zerubbabel had to lay the first stone in the city wall or the first stone in the foundation of the temple—one stone, without which the wall or the temple would not be constructed.
There was only one Apostle Paul, one St. Aurelius Augustine, one Martin Luther, one John Wesley, one D. L. Moody, one… Well, the pattern is clear—despise not the day of small beginnings.
Of all the lessons in this parable, one should never feel that one’s solitary effort is not worth starting. But everything must have a beginning. Nothing emerges full-grown. It is the believer’s duty to do what one can, and the cumulative effect of all the small efforts can, in the end, produce an amazing result.
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