Little is Much When God Is in It

Sunday - April 25th

Scripture to Read Today: 1 Samuel 17:38-50

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David fastened on King Saul's sword over the tunic and tried walking around because he was not used to any of it. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.

1 Samuel 17:39

When King Saul heard the determination, focus, and courage of the young shepherd named David, he knew he could do nothing to dissuade David. No matter what Saul said or did, it was apparent that David would go and fight the Philistine giant - Goliath. So, Saul had David try on the king's armor and strap on his sword. David was too small in stature to be able to utilize either. He would face Goliath with a shepherd's stick and sling. He would have very little compared to the armor and weaponry of the giant.

The odds that day were not in David's favor. No one present who saw how much taller and stronger Goliath was than David would have ever put money on David winning that battle. One of the great lessons of the David and Goliath story is that little is much when God is in it. An old song sung in many American churches captured that very phrase.

In the late 1800s, one cold, stormy winter evening in the Canadian wilderness, bachelor Fred Suffield, heard a frantic knocking at his door. Answering the door, he found a man chilled to the bone. After Suffield invited him in, the man explained that he was from a passenger train that had stalled a few miles in the distance. Due to the blizzard conditions of the terrible storm, the passengers were in danger of freezing to death. The man asked if Suffield would be willing to provide shelter for the train's passengers in his little cabin of a home.

Of course, Suffield consented. The two men hurried to the train. All of the passengers crowded into his modest home. Mr. Suffield provided the little hospitality he could until the blizzard passed and the train could get moving again. Later, one of the passengers, a young lady named Kittie, wrote Fred Suffield a gracious thank-you letter. Fred replied, Kittie wrote back, and a romance developed. That romance led to the marriage of Fred and Kittie a year later.

The couple came to Christ as Savior not long after their wedding. Fred sensed God's call into full-time evangelistic ministry. The two began to travel for week-long evangelistic ministries around Canada and the United States. Fred would preach, and Kittie played the piano and sang. One summer, they invited their pastor's son, George, to join them for a month of meetings. One evening, Kittie heard the young man singing in the congregation. The next day, she asked him to sing for her. George was reluctant, but she convinced him to sing for her. His voice broke on the higher notes, and he was mortified.

Kittie worked with him, and over time he developed a rich baritone voice. He began to sing in churches and evangelistic gatherings. That young man, George Beverly Shea, became known as "America's Beloved Gospel Singer." Shea joined Billy Graham's evangelistic ministry as a soloist in 1947 and served with Graham until Shea's death in 2013 (at age 104). Shea has the honor of having sung before more people than any other person in world history.

Kittie Suffield wrote many songs and hymns in her lifetime. She died in 1972, nine years after her beloved husband. The singer she discovered would sing many of her songs over the years. George Beverly Shea would sing one of Kittie Suffield's songs more than any other of her songs while serving alongside Billy Graham over the decades. He sang her song, "Little Is Much When God Is in It," frequently because he said, "This song reflects the story of my life." Kittie Suffield and George Beverly Shea discovered what David knew when he faced Goliath. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have. If God is in what you are doing, little is much!

Maybe you have been using your lack of experience, lack of the right skills, or lack of the right tools as an excuse. You might feel like "very little" today. That is OK. God loves to use folks who have very little to offer Him!

You may feel inadequate to engage in what God is doing in the world. Remember "Little Is Much When God Is in It!"

Little Is Much When God Is in It

Written by Kittie Suffield in 1924

CLICK HERE to hear the song

In the harvest field now ripened

There's a work for all to do

Hark! the Master's voice is calling

To the harvest calling you

Does the place you're called to labor

Seem so small and little known?

It is great if God is in it

For He'll not forsake His own

Little is much when God is in it!

Labor not for wealth or fame

There's a crown, and you can win it

If you go in Jesus' name

And when the conflict has ended

And our race on earth is run

He will say, if you've been faithful,

"Welcome home, My child—well done!"

Little is much when God is in it!

Labor not for wealth or fame

There's a crown, and you can win it

If you go...

If you go...

If you go in Jesus' name