Bending History

Devotional – John Clardy – 10/03/08

1Samuel 14:6   And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ones. It may be that Jehovah will work for us. For there is no restraint to Jehovah, to save by many or by few.

Romans 8:31   What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation." Author Unknown

What difference can one person make? Consider this: On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, AL Rosa Parks refused to obey a bus driver’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Her action was not the first of its kind: Irene Morgan, in 1946, and Sarah Louise Keys, in 1955, had won rulings before the Supreme Court and the Interstate Commerce Commission respectively in the area of interstate bus travel. But unlike these previous individual actions of civil disobedience, Parks' action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This movement turned Parks into an international icon of resistance to racial segregation and launched boycott leader Martin Luther King Jr. to national prominence in the civil rights movement. (See wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks)

One little action of refusing to be bullied and discriminated against resulted in a movement that was able to bend history!

In the book of I Samuel, we find the story of Jonathon and his armor bearer that were outnumbered by their enemies, the Philistines. Did Jonathan bemoan his situation and say, “It is just the two of us, what can we do? No!  Instead of looking at the largeness of the challenge or the smallness of his abilities, He focused on the greatness of God!  Jonathan realized that with God on his side, he was in the majority.  He confidently proclaimed, “There are no restrictions on God! He can save by many or by few!”  The result?  God showed up, the enemy became confused and the people of Israel were delivered!

How often have you heard people lament the state of affairs around them?  They are quick to point out what someone should do, but when faced with the opportunity to do something about it, they fall back on the same tired, excuse.  “Well I am only one person. What good can I do?”

Don’t put yourself down! If God is for us, who can stand against us? Jesus and I, Jesus and you make a majority!  We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses unto everyone, everywhere! We are anointed by the Lord! We can change the world in ways that can only be calculated in eternity.

Let me encourage and challenge each one of you today!  Keep doing what is right!  Keep lending a helping hand when you can!  Smile! Say a kind word to those you work with. Vote!  Pick up a piece of litter!  Send a card to a friend.  Email someone a clean joke. Visit someone in the hospital.  Take a kid for a snow cone.  Pick up someone for church.  Keep on loving!  Keep praying! Keep praising! You may never know who you will touch or what the cumulative effect of the little things you do will be, but do it anyway! You may be bending the history of an individual, a family, or even a nation!

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." Edward Everett Hale