The other day I found myself at the beginning of Exodus. I'd intended to read the whole first chapter, but, as things would have it, I only got seven verses in.
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
As I read, I realized that seventy people was really not a lot of people. It's only twenty more than my graduating high school class, and far less than most freshman classes entering into college. In fact, on my campus, in one of the average sized dorms, it would only be one of the floors.
In terms of family, seventy is a large family. But, by todays standards, starting with twelve sons was also a very large family. And really, all that means is each son had a wife and approximately four kids. That's a fairly average size.
But, all things considered, this was a fairly small amount of people.
When I reached the seventh verse, I had to stop again. The Israelites were fruitful, they increased in number, and became so numerous the land was filled with them.
This was a small amount of people, doing small things faithfully. So faithfully, in fact, that the land became full enough that, in verse ten, the new Pharaoh says,
Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.
They became a national security threat to Egypt. Now, I don't know how much Egyptian history you know, but Egypt was an empire for around 3000 years. To put that in perspective, America has existed for 242 years (as of December 2018.) America has existed for 0.08 percent of the time Egypt survived and reigned as an empire. To have a Pharaoh scared enough of the Israelite population in his country that he decided to enslave them all is a big deal.
What God did with the faithfulness of one man and his twelve sons, and eventually their families, is an amazing miracle. They were faithful in the small things.
So what does that look like for us? An impactful life is made up of many small, impactful moments. Changing the world doesn't happen in one large moment. Rather, it happens in many small moments--bringing joy to someone on the street, providing a meal for your neighbors or a stranger, making someone smile, listening when people need to talk.
It's easy to compare ourselves to the missionaries and apostles who devoted their lives to traveling and preaching. For most of us, we don't have the freedom to leave our jobs, our homes, our families to spread the gospel. But there are people in our lives we can love and listen to. We don't need to reach thousands to change the world.
We just need to reach one.
J. J. Hanna is a writer and reader who loves God and wants to help encourage others with what she knows and what she's learning. Answer her questions with a quick note and connect with her on social media. She's excited to hear from you!