“Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly.” Job 8:7

Small Beginnings

Walk His Way Revisited
First Posted in September, 2014

My husband and I were shopping at a local department store a few evenings ago, when down the aisle came a young man dressed in a button-down long-sleeved shirt and a nice pair of slacks. He looked vaguely familiar. Suddenly my husband exclaimed, “Hey! Look at you, all dressed up!” I did a double-take. This nice-looking young man with cropped hair stood straight and tall before us. Keys hung from a lanyard around his neck.

I suddenly realized who he was—a former student of my husband’s from long years gone by. The goof-off, the student who would do not his homework, the one who never understood or completed any assignment he was given, the boy who didn’t care about school or anything connected with it, was now the assistant manager of a very large, popular store. He looked us in the eye, friendly, engaged, and… could it be? He exuded wisdom beyond his years, and certainly far beyond what we would have expected. He’d grown up, walked through some things, and more importantly, he’d changed his mind.

Every life is only potential at its beginning. Some people grab hold of all the opportunities that come their way, and really seem to have it all together. They seem born to make good choices. Others, even though the homes they are raised in are functional and loving, just seem born to trouble. Still others never seem to “get a break”; their life is just hard from the start.

Those born to affluence may end up in poverty. Those with drug-abusing parents may end up squeaky clean. Those in a depressed housing neighborhood may become judges, doctors, teachers, counselors. Those with poor grades in school may become university presidents, faithful husbands, beloved daddies, and assistant managers in large stores.

We don’t know what is around the corner for our own selves, much less anyone else. Let’s not judge before the time. Let’s not jump to conclusions about others. Let’s not assume how a life will go. Just because there is a small beginning doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a grand plan in place.

Think of it like a cake baking in the oven. A friend is visiting, and asks what you are making. “A cake,” you reply. If she opens the oven prematurely, she would see batter in a pan, and she might exclaim, “Why, that’s not a cake! It doesn’t look anything like a cake!” And you would rightly tell her that soon enough, it will be a cake.

I think this is probably how God sees the work He is doing in us. He knows what we will become.

Let the cake bake.

“Father, help us to wait while You increase the small beginning until it becomes the abundant life You promise. Remind us not to judge anything before the time. Amen.”