Faithful with a Few Things

"Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master." -Mt. 25:21

In a broad sense, every parable of Jesus is about the kingdom of God. The parable of the talents is no different. The story goes like this: a wealthy man is going on a long journey. Just before he leaves, he entrusts his money and possessions to his servants, with the expectation the servants will use these things to expand the man's estate. After a long time, the man returns. While one servant did not meet the expectation, the other two did. He tells the two they were a model of faithfulness. He tells the one he was not. Then, the two enter his joy, the one is sent away.

My favorite part of this parable is what the man says to the two servants. Specifically, he calls them "faithful." They were faithful with a few things. In context, faithfulness was using what they'd been given—with the skills they had—to expand the estate for as long as the master was away. The funny thing is the master refers to both five talents and three talents as a "few things." From his perspective, everybody got a few things. So, the point wasn't how much each person did or didn't get, but how they used what they got... Were they faithful?

From God's perspective, everything I own is just a few things. All I really want to do is be faithful with them. I want to use what I've been given—with the skills that I have—to expand God's kingdom for as long as He's away. I want to be faithful.

The Reminder God

"Let the labor be heavier on the men..." -Ex. 5:9

Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. The first time Moses went to Pharoah to let the Israelites go free, Pharoah effectively said, "Whatever, Moses. I'm going to make your lazy people work even harder." Pharoah gave everybody more work. And when they couldn't meet their quota of bricks, Pharoah beat them.

Obviously, the Israelites got pretty upset. They didn't appreciate Moses speaking to Pharoah. They told Moses, in so many words, "You suck." So, Moses went back to God and whined, "O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?" (v. 22).

The hardship Moses experienced made him question God. Specifically, he questioned: Why the hardship? And, why me? Then, stereotypically, God didn't even attempt to answer Moses' questions. He just said, "I am God. Go tell Israel I am God, and go tell Pharoah to let My people go" (6:1-13). In other words, God reminded Moses of who He was and reaffirmed His plan.

When God is doing something, He's going to do it. Sometimes that means hardship for His people. Sometimes that means more work. Sometimes that means it gets worse before it gets better. Nevertheless, in the thick of it all, God will remind us who He is and what His plan is.

The Secret of Contentment

The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. -Ex. 16:35

Forty years?! Forty years is a long time to eat the same meal every day. You can't blame the Israelites for getting sick of it, can you? The weird thing is God chose to give them the manna for all those years. God didn't give them a smorgasbord. He gave them what they needed and expected them to be content.

At one point during those forty years, the Israelites were moaning and complaining about the manna. They wanted some meat to eat. So, what did God do? He gave them what they wanted until they were sick of it, "You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you" (Num. 11:19-20).

The sad reality is even if the Israelites had been given meat for forty years, they would have gotten just as discontent with it as they did with the manna. The problem was not with the type of food they were eating; the problem was with their attitude. God deliberately gave them the manna to teach them contentment.

Likewise, whatever our lot in life, we have to decide to be content with what God has given us. The great illusion of the desire for something other than manna is that the desire will stop with the next thing. It won't. Ironically, even when you get the meat, you end up sick of it, too, after a while. The secret is to find your contentment in God Himself.

The LORD was with Joseph

The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. -Gen. 39:2

Over and over throughout Joseph's story, there is this refrain: "The LORD was with Joseph..." The first time the phrase appears, it is right after Joseph has been sold into slavery and ends up in Egypt with no hope of freedom or ever seeing his family again. Nevertheless, we are told that the LORD was with him.

The second time the phrase appears, it is because Potiphar can't help but notice the LORD is with Joseph and makes everything he does to prosper.

The third time the phrase appears, Jospeh has been thrown in jail... Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to sleep with her, but he said he could not do such a thing against God. What?! God? What about Potiphar? Clearly, Joseph is acutely aware that God is with him. How could Joseph do something like that when God was with him?

The fourth time the phrase appears, the jailer has given Joseph some slack even though he's still in jail. He lets Joseph carry on with little to no oversight.

That's the last time the refrain appears in Joseph's story. Still, there are remnants of it a little later when Pharaoh calls Joseph up from the jail to interpret a dream. Pharaoh basically says, "Hey, Joseph, I've heard you're pretty good at interpreting dreams. I need you to interpret mine..." And, the first thing Joseph says to Pharaoh—THE DIVINE POTENTATE OF EGYPT!—is "Yeah, it's not me. God will interpret your dream for you." Incredible. Joseph is consumed with the sense that his God is with him.

No matter what happened, at every stage in Joseph's life, he was absolutely convinced of God's presence. God was with him. He knew it. The people around him knew it. It came out in his actions. It came out in his words. It came out in his thoughts, his perseverance, his explanations, his demeanor.

Do I have this same sense that God is with me?