Recently I learned that an acquaintance, a young man, had come to Christ. I marveled at the changes in his way of life. To some of his friends, the changes might seem to be rapid. But this young man had mentors in his life who showed him sacrificial love for several years before his heart was brought into submission to Christ.

They chose to take this young man under their wing when, to an outside observer, there was no glimmer of hope for change. Of course, even they themselves knew that any permanent change would not come from their good intentions and long-term efforts but from God’s Spirit. They put their hands to the plow, as it were, and didn’t look back.

Recently a Canadian pastor and I were talking about the RP Church in that country and how it has grown over a period of decades (see March/April Witness). Had some people “despised the day of small things” (Zech. 4:10) or grown weary easily, they would not have persevered to see the growth. You could say the same with one of the historic RP missions in Southeast Asia, where it took many decades to see the great harvest that God has sown through missionaries. You could look at the RP mission (now RP presbytery) in Japan, where growth has been slow but so sweet to those who have been impacted. Who knows what great harvest may come?

I’ve learned this lesson in local ministry, such as in the city. I, like others, am tempted to hold big events and expect big results. It has been much harder to work one-to-one with people over a period of years, or to minister to children with an eye toward fruit in future generations. I’m still not good at it, but I’m learning. I’m becoming more patient. Perhaps the right term is perseverance in faith. God can do as He pleases, in a short time or in decades. But when we invest in faith for the long term, there can be little doubt that it is God’s work and not our bursts of energy that deserve the glory.

Our smallness being a continuing testimony to God’s greatness is a frequent theme in Scripture. Israel itself, the people of God, was chosen when it was insignificant (Deut. 7:6-8). As Matthew Henry says, in commenting on “the day of small things” in Zech. 4:10:

In God’s work the day of small things is not to be despised. Though the instruments be weak and unlikely, God often chooses such, by them to bring about great things. As a great mountain becomes a plain before him when he pleases, so a little stone, cut out of a mountain without hands, comes to fill the earth (Dan. 2:35). Though the beginnings be small, God can make the latter end greatly to increase; a grain of mustard-seed may become a great tree [see Mark 4:30-32]. Let not the dawning light be despised, for it will shine more and more to the perfect day. The day of small things is the day of precious things, and will be the day of great things.