Preparation for Big Tasks Through Little Ones

“The word of the Lord came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.’“

— 1 Kings 17:7

Sometimes God prepares us with little tests to prepare us for the bigger ones to come. Elijah, one of the great Old Testament prophets, lived in Zarephath with a poor widow and her son, no doubt an unusual relationship for a man who had spent most of his life in the desert. He spent about three years there, about half that time there was no rain.

One day the widow’s son grew sick and died, and the widow became very distraught. Elijah took the boy up to the loft where he stayed and laid his body out over the boy: “Oh Lord, my God, I pray that You let this child’s soul come into him again.” The Lord heard his prayer, and the boy began to breathe again. The great prophet brought the child down to his bereft mother, and there was rejoicing. She said, “Now, because of this, I know indeed that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth!”

This was all preparation for the great test that Elijah was to have in the great showdown on Mount Carmel with the hundreds of false prophets of Baal versus just him, representing Yahweh. Don’t despise the little tests God puts in your path. He may well be preparing for larger tasks. Make sure you pass all the tests, or you might just have to take them over again.

Father, help me to not shun small tasks. For it is in the mastery of the basics, so often You shape our lives to take on the much larger assignments You have for us. Lord, give me the strength for today to make myself available to You for big tasks or small…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE MAKE OURSELVES
AVAILABLE TO HIM FOR TASKS, BIG OR SMALL.