God Cares for the Little Ones
God Cares for the Little Ones
Do not be distressed no matter how weak your effort may be, or how small your work is. Do not lose your hope if your progress in spiritual matters is slow, or if you are unknown, poor, and of no value in the eyes of people, or young in age or small in soul. Trust that:
God cares for the little ones.
Do not say, “I am of no use. I have done nothing,” and despair because of that. Know that God does not forget any simple work. Perhaps you did it and forgot it. He did not forget the Queen of the South, who traveled to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Because of this work, which seems simple, He said that she would rise in the Day of Judgment and condemn that generation (Matt. 12:42).
God does not forget even a cup of cold water that you give to another.
He says about this simple work, which costs you no toil, no effort, and no money, that it “will by no means lose its reward” (Matt. 10:42). Likewise, He did not forget the handful of flour and the jar of oil that the widow of Zarephath of Sidon offered to Elijah the prophet. He also did not forget the woman who poured a flask of ointment on His feet, and He said of her: “Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9), even though it appeared to be an ordinary act.
He never forgot the humble word spoken by the Canaanite woman, and He blessed her, saying: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour (Matt. 15:28).
Likewise, He did not forget for His people their mere going out after Him into the wilderness (Jer. 2:2), although they were grumbling and hard-hearted in the wilderness. He also said to His disciples: “You are those who have continued with Me in My trials” (Luke 22:28), although their steadfastness was weak—those who could not watch with Him one hour (Matt. 26:40), and some of them feared and fled.
The Lord did not forget Zacchaeus climbing the sycamore tree to see Him.
He stopped on the road, spoke to him, and entered his house despite the criticism of the people. With this tenderness He drew him to repentance and confession, and said to him: “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9). Did it ever occur to Zacchaeus that the Lord would value his climbing the sycamore tree to such an extent? It is the Lord who cares for the work, however small it may be.
He gave us three examples of His care for the little ones in the chapter concerning His acceptance of repentant sinners and His search for them (Luke 15).
The return of the prodigal son with a broken heart was met by the Lord with great joy and many rewards. And what about the lost sheep? Who would look at a flock of a hundred sheep, notice that they are only ninety-nine, and search for the one missing until he carries it on his shoulders rejoicing? And who would care about one lost coin, searching for it until he finds it and rejoices over it? Does this not give you hope in God’s work for you? He is searching for you, even if you do not search for Him.
Take also the example of His care for the sparrow, as a symbol of His care for you.
He says: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father” (Matt. 10:29). He who cares for the sparrow surely cares for you as well. Therefore He immediately says afterward: “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:30).
The Lord marvels at the sparrows in their faith that God feeds them, saying: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matt. 6:26). He also mentions them and gives them as an example to us: “And to the young ravens that cry” (Ps. 147:9).
He even cares for the worm that crawls under a stone and gives it its food.
How much more you—He gives you the food of the spirit and the food of the body as well. Is not man better than many worms? The small worm was used by God to teach a lesson to the prophet Jonah, when God prepared it to strike the plant (Jonah 4:7). It is good that this worm was mentioned in the Holy Bible while performing a mission that led to the repentance of a prophet.
The ant also, though small, God cared for it and presented it to us as an example.
Scripture says: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise” (Prov. 6:6). Scripture explains her activity so that we may learn a lesson from her. It also gives you another lesson from the lilies of the field. And in His care for small things, the Lord gives us an example in faith like a mustard seed: “Which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown… it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matt. 13:32). Do not despair if your faith is as small as a mustard seed, for God is able to make it grow.
He is “the One who raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that He may seat him with princes of His people” (Ps. 112:7).
Thus God is able to raise you up whatever your condition may be, and even exalt you to sit with the leaders of His people. Is He not the One who does not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax, who commands the encouragement of the fainthearted, the support of the weak, and patience toward all (1 Thess. 5:14)? How beautiful also is the Scripture’s saying: “Strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (Heb. 12:12). Even if you are of this kind, God will not neglect you, but will send to you someone to strengthen you.
It is remarkable that at the banquet of His Kingdom, He commanded that the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind be brought in until His house was filled (Luke 14:21).
So if your spiritual works are weak, say to Him humbly: “Bring me in, O Lord, with the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind into Your Kingdom.” And just as You cared to gather the fragments in the miracle of the five loaves and the two fish, consider me also among these fragments, that Your apostles may take me with them in their baskets.
Truly, this miracle is comforting concerning care for the little ones.
When the Lord fed the multitudes, He did not use abundant food, but was able to feed thousands with five loaves and two fish, which is a small amount. And in the miracle of feeding the four thousand, it was said that the food was a few small fish (Mark 8:7; Matt. 15:34). Therefore, in your service do not despair because of the smallness of your gifts. Say to Him, “Use me to feed them, as though I were one of the small fish.”
When God sent someone to speak to Pharaoh, He chose a man slow of speech and slow of tongue (Exod. 4:10).
It was Moses, who excused himself from service, saying to the Lord: “I am not eloquent… but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Therefore the Lord gave him Aaron his brother “to be a mouth for him.” God blessed them both, and said to Moses concerning Aaron: “You shall put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do” (Exod. 4:10, 15). It is wondrous that the man slow of speech and tongue becomes the one who speaks with God.
Therefore, never despair because of weak gifts.
Always know that “the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Sam. 17:47), and that “there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:6). In the days of Gideon, God did not wish to save by thirty thousand, but chose only three hundred, and saved the people by this small number (Judg. 7:7).
God spread the preaching through twelve men, and they were not men of great talents.
Most of them were fishermen; what mattered was the work of God in them. And the thirteenth, Paul, did not rely on culture or talents, but said to the Corinthians: “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong; and God has chosen the base things of the world and the things which are despised… to bring to nothing the things that are” (1 Cor. 1:27–28). And he said: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:1). Why? He says: “Lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect” (1 Cor. 1:17), so that Christianity would not be considered philosophy, or the success of preaching be attributed to wisdom rather than to the work of grace.
When God wished to defeat Goliath, He defeated him by a small youth.
A youth who did not know how to wear armor, because he was not accustomed to it (1 Sam. 17:38–39), but used five smooth stones from the brook. This youth was anointed king by the Lord, apart from his seven older brothers. Thus David sang his famous song: “I was the youngest among my brothers, and a youth in my father’s house… my brothers were handsome and tall, but the Lord was not pleased with them” (Ps. 151).
In God’s care for the little ones, He chose young Jeremiah and the child Samuel.
He chose Jeremiah, who said: “I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” The Lord said to him: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’” and the Lord touched his mouth and said: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms… Behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar… against the whole land… They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you” (Jer. 1:6–19).
Likewise, the Lord chose the child Samuel over the great priest Eli, and used this child to deliver His message and warning to Eli.
Similarly, God chose Joseph the Righteous over his ten older brothers, made them all bow at his feet, and also made him a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt (Gen. 45:8). In the same way, God chose Saint Abba Bishoy over his brothers, though he was the youngest and weakest in body.
God also chose the deacon Athanasius to be the champion of the faith against Arianism.
In the great Ecumenical Council, there were 318 bishops representing all the churches of the world. Yet this young deacon was the one chosen to defend the sound faith, and also to sit on the throne of Saint Mark and spread the faith to the ends of the earth. Truly, God cares for the little ones and chooses them; they are not despised before Him. He is the One who said:
“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones” (Matt. 18:10).
The Lord’s care for children is very clear in the Holy Bible. He set a child in the midst of His disciples and said to them: “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). He also said: “I thank You, Father… that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes” (Matt. 11:25). And He said: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).
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