Jesse asked his son David to take food to his brothers who were on the battlefield. David obeyed his dad. David had already been anointed king, but his time to take the throne had not yet come. So what did he do? He went back to take care of his sheep. Being a shepherd was not a very prominent job. Now his father was asking him to do another minuscule task. David could have pulled the “king” card, but he didn’t. Instead, David obeyed his dad. He did the small things well. He did the “behind the scenes” jobs. He was faithful. Even though no one else seemed to notice, God saw.

Little things matter. The “behind the scenes” stuff matters. What we do in private matters. Obeying God in the little things matters. Sometimes before God allows us to do the big things, He wants to see if we will obey Him in the small things.

God is always looking at hearts.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  I Samuel 16:7

A lesson the Lord seems to be continually teaching me is that my private life is much more important than my public life.

What do I do when no one else is watching? Who am I behind the scenes?

Even in ministry I constantly have to check my motives. Am I involved in ministry to get recognition or accolades from others, or am I doing it for God’s glory? A question that has so resonated with me was from a sermon where Ravi Zacharias asked, “How are you alone with God?”

Last year I was praying and asking the Lord to open doors for me in ministry and He spoke so clearly to my heart:

“Rachel, you focus on building an altar before Me, and let Me build the platform.”

God values altars above platforms. 

Anything of eternal value or worth will only come out of our time spent alone with God. 

Are we willing to do the “behind the scenes” stuff well? Because David obeyed his dad and took lunch to his brothers, he found himself in a position to defeat a giant.

 

When no one else sees, God sees. When we are faithful over little, He makes us faithful over much.

Let’s be like David and do the small things well. In God’s economy, small things are big things. And above all else, let’s purpose to spend time alone with God. Let’s build a beautiful altar of worship before Him for His eyes only.

Out of everyone, God chose a shepherd boy to be king.

He picked a delivery boy to defeat Goliath.

And He wants to use you too! To do big things—-and little things—all for the glory of God. 🙂