Small Things, Big Results

            Like many of the folks whose families grew up in Piedmont North Carolina,  my family was employed in the textile mills.  My Grandpa Wall was a fixer in a hosiery mill after he moved to Burlington in his early 20’s, and my stepfather was a fixer in the weave room at Burlington Industries’ Pioneer Plant.   My wife Ann’s Grandfather Verble was a superintendent of the Roberta Mill in Concord.  My first full time job as I prepared to go to college was working in the spring winding department at the textile mill.    The lint dust of the textile mill fills the blood of my family.

            I think of that family history as I read these words in Isaiah 10: 20-23  which says,

 ²⁰ In that day the remnant of Israel,
   the survivors of Jacob,
will no longer rely on him
   who struck them down
but will truly rely on the LORD,
   the Holy One of Israel.
²¹ A remnant will return,^[y] a remnant of Jacob
   will return to the Mighty God.
²² Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel,
   only a remnant will return.
Destruction has been decreed,
   overwhelming and righteous.
²³ The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out
   the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

I was familiar with remnants growing up.  Fabric remnants were scraps of cloth left over from a large job.  My Grandmother Perry, an accomplished seamstress, shopped often at a business called the Remnant Shop where she would buy leftover cloth to make clothes for herself or family members.  In this passage of scripture, Isaiah the prophet is saying that though Israel has been unfaithful to the Lord there is a remnant that will return to the Lord and rely on Him.    Though they may be small in scale to the entire Israelite nation, the Lord will work in and through them. 

One of the wonderful things about the God we serve is that he does not need big numbers to do big things.    Through a God/Man named Jesus, He saved the world; through 12 folks called disciples, He turned the world upside down.  Thanks be to God.  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

  PRAYER

            O God,   we ask forgiveness for the times that we live like bigger is always better.  Remind us, Lord, that those who are in Christ are always strong and mighty.  Help me rely more fully on you;  through Christ our Lord. Amen.