God uses the little things

Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer. Proverbs 30:25                                                                  

In her book, Life and Death in Shanghai, Nien Cheng recounts her ordeal during China’s Cultural Revolution. Nien Cheng was imprisoned then, accused of being a spy for the British government because of her involvement with a British petroleum company.

The only window in her cell was a small opening, partly painted black to obscure the light. One day, as she looked through the grime and dirt, Mrs. Cheng noticed a tiny spider, no larger than the size of a pea, climbing the rust-eroded bars over the window. The tiny spider climbed slowly and steadily for several minutes, then when it reached the top of the bar, it swung down like a rock climber using the slender, almost translucent thread that it made and had attached to the bar. Then it secured the strand at the bottom and climbed up to repeat the act all over again. “There was no hesitation, no mistake, and no haste. It knew its job and carried it out with confidence.

“For the moment, I knew I had just witnessed something that was extraordinarily beautiful and uplifting... It helped me to see that God was in control... I felt a renewal of hope and confidence.”

Sometimes God shouts from the housetop, but most of the time He uses the little things – the sweetness of a baby’s smile, the perfect symmetry of a flower growing in a crack on the sidewalk, the pleasant song of a bird, or a phone call from a friend when you’re depressed – to let you know He hasn’t forgotten you. Look around you and find His message through His handiwork.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18