2 Kings 5:13

Some Great Thing

If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? 2 Kings 5:13.

Here is a man who was told to do a little thing and found it more difficult than doing a big one. It seems stupid, doesn't it? You think it would have been so easy for him to go and bathe in Jordan, and that he would have been glad to do it to be made well again. But it was just because it was so easy that he couldn't do it.

You see Naaman was a very great man in his own country and much thought of. He had travelled hundreds of miles to see Elisha. He was accompanied by a grand escort and had brought many valuable presents, and he thought the prophet would make a great fuss over him. But Elisha did not even come to see him. He just sent a messenger to tell him to dip seven times in the river Jordan.

I suppose Naaman fancied Elisha was slighting him or making fun of him, so he was angry and would not go to the Jordan. If he had been asked to do something big, or difficult, or heroic, he could have done it, but he would not do the little, simple, commonplace thing. Fortunately he thought better of his decision and, on the advice of his followers, went and dipped in Jordan and was made whole.

I wonder if we are ever like Naaman. Yes, I'm afraid we are sometimes. We like to do the big things, the things that make a noise and a show, and we think the little, quiet, everyday things are not worth doing. Now that is a foolish and mistaken idea and a great many grown-up people have caused themselves and others much unhappiness by cherishing it. I should like you to start right by never letting it into your head at all, so I want you to try and remember three facts about little things.

1. First, remember it is the little things that make up life. Perhaps you will never be required to do a great thing, a thing that the world will hear about and talk about, but you will be called to do hundreds and thousands of little things, little everyday tasks that nobody sees or applauds, and it is the doing of those small things, especially the way you do them, that goes to form that wonderful building we call character.

Did you ever hear how the beautiful cathedral of St. Paul's in London came to be built? Did you know that it was built of sixpences? That seems odd, doesn't it? Shall I tell you how it happened?

Long ago, when it was settled that the cathedral was to be built, a tax of sixpence was put on each ton of coal which was brought into the port, and the money that was gained in this way went to pay for the building of the cathedral. Just one little sixpence after another, each one of very little value, and yet they helped to erect one of the grandest buildings in the world! Your life may be just as grand and noble as St Paul's Cathedral, and yet it may be built out of small things as the cathedral was.

2. But, second, sometimes it is the little things that are the big things. Now what do we mean by that? Well it is often easier to do a fine, heroic thing once in a while than to do the little commonplace, dull things of everyday life.

Can you control your temper? That may seem a little thing, but it is a big thing. Can you be kind and patient, day after day, when other people are annoying? Can you learn that wearisome lesson, or work through that dull task without grumbling? Can you give up little pleasures now and again for the sake of somebody else and do it with a smile?

Do you think there is nothing grand about all that? There are few things grander! It isn't easy to be a hero in everyday life when nobody seems to be looking on and there is nobody to applaud. But God is looking on and I think one of the surprises we shall get in heaven will be to know what God counts little and what He counts big.

3. Once more, I want you to remember that it doesn't matter whether things seem big or little, important or unimportant; if they lie in our path, God has put them there for us to do and it is our business to do them.

I was reading a sort of parable the other day about a boy who wanted to do big things and who omitted to do the little thing that lay nearest and that mattered most just then. His dream was to go out into the world and give his life to doing good works among the poor and needy. Well, that was a very good ambition, but he made one mistake, as you shall hear.

One night as he knelt in prayer asking that the opportunity might be given him to carry out his desires an angel appeared to him, and in his hand was a beautiful amethyst ring. The angel told the boy that his prayers had been answered, that he was to go out into the world to do good works, but that there was a bit of work close at hand that badly needed doing, and when he had finished that he should find the amethyst ring.

Next morning he told his mother about the angel's visit and that he must go forth that day to begin his life of charity. She gave him her blessing and told him to go. “But,” she added, “there is just one thing I should like you to do before you leave. That stagnant pool in front of the cottage has been smelling very badly lately. It is overpowering the scent of the roses and the honeysuckle, and I am afraid it may breed some plague. I should like you to remove it before you set out.”

The boy replied that he had no time to stay, and that he was sure clearing out the pool would make him feel ill. So he went away without removing it.

For many years he travelled up and down the land, and everywhere he went he did good works. Many were helped and blessed by him, and be earned a great name. At last, one day he came again to his mother's village. But he found the cottage in ruins and was told that his mother had died long since. When he asked the neighbors how she died, they replied that she had succumbed to a plague caused by the cesspool in front of her cottage, and that many more people in the village had died of the same trouble. The cesspool had since been covered over, but some people thought it should be removed altogether.

Then the man remembered his mother's request and he was exceedingly sorry. He set to work that day to remove the pool, and at the bottom he found the wonderful amethyst ring.

So don't think that what you do or don't do doesn't count. The duty that is nearest, however commonplace and trifling it may seem, is the most important one for you. If you do it the world will be so much the happier and better; if you fail to do it, it will be so much the poorer.

One stitch dropped as the weaver drove

His needle shuttle to and fro,

In and out, beneath, above,

Till the pattern seemed to bud and grow

As if the fairies had helping been;

And the one stitch dropped pulled the next stitch out,

And a weak place grew in the fabric stout;

And the perfect pattern was marred for aye

By the one small stitch that was dropped that day.

One small life in God's great plan,

How futile it seems as the ages roll,

Do what it may, or strive how it can,

To alter the sweep of the infinite whole!

A single stitch in an endless web;

A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb;

But the pattern is torn where the stitch is lost,

Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed;

And each life that fails of the true intent,

Mars the perfect plan that its Master meant. (Susan Coolidge)