Mensa Otabil - Growing Into Greatness (11/03/2025)
Isaiah 60: 22: A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. What a fabulous promise from God to His people! He talks about a time when something that is smaller in number will grow to become a thousand, and something that is small in size will become a nation. So, God is talking about His people growing in size and in number to be able to do great things, and it’s a promise that we have to claim for ourselves-that God will cause us constantly to grow and mature to be able to do great things.
I don’t know whether it’s ever happened to you in life, but it has happened to me before-where, as you grow up, you don’t really know that you’re growing up. Sometimes in life, you meet somebody, maybe an old schoolmate or someone from the neighborhood or a senior who looked very big when they were your senior. They probably bullied you. You were scared of them; you were afraid of them. Then you meet them, probably 30 years down the line or 20 years down the line, and you get surprised that this person who seemed so big now looks so small and sometimes even weak before you. You find yourself asking, «What happened?» Because you’re assuming that as you have been growing, they have also been growing, so they should look much bigger than you remembered. But they are where they are, and sometimes you realize you’ve grown bigger than them; you’ve grown stronger than them. The question is, what happened?
What happened is that you grew. Growth has a lot of advantages; something that seems perplexing to you and seems intimidating later in life becomes very easy to solve. That’s one of the reasons why we don’t give up in life. That’s one reason why, when you confront a situation now, and the situation seems so big that it perplexes you-and you think, «Oh, I can never solve this problem"-just give yourself some time. It may be a year; it may be two years; it may be three years, or sometimes it could even be months. Then you grow, you mature, you become better skilled at what you do. You go and confront the same problem, and it’s nothing to you. That is what God wants to do with us; that’s what He wants to do with each one of us. He wants us to grow.
Today, when you look around you, you may find so many situations that you think are impossible. Perhaps you’re looking at your finances, and it looks like, «Man, this is so bad. I don’t think I can ever come out of it.» We’ve all been there. Or you look at your marriage problem and say, «Oh, this is impossible; I don’t think this marriage can work.» Or you look at some other problem, maybe in your career or professional life, and it looks like an impossible situation. But you know, give yourself a little time; pray a little bit more, study the word of God, associate with people who will help you grow and mature. Let your perspectives be challenged, let your ideas encounter new ideas, and then come back and face the same problem. You’ll realize that what seemed impossible actually becomes very, very possible for you.
That’s what God was saying to Israel: for now, you may look small, but there will be a time when you will be a thousand. Now you are a small group of people, but you will become a nation. When you do that, you can fight the battles of nations. When you are one and become a thousand, you can also face the thousands. So, allow God to grow you; allow God to mature you; allow God to build you up; allow God to expand you. Come back and face the same problems, and you will see that they are very easy to solve.
May the Lord be your strength as you move on. Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, You are my strength. Raise me up above every limitation facing me today. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»