We were continuing our studies in 2 Kings this past Sunday. This week we reached chapter 11, a passage notable as the closest of any bible passage I can think of to the entire plan of God being scuppered altogether and yet rescued, in the sovereignty of God, by a woman virtually unheard of and largely not remembered even by seasoned Christians.

Ahab’s daughter, Athalia, comes within one person – one of her own grandchildren who lived and moved in the same rooms and came within arms length of her – to killing off the entire line of David, ending the possibility of a Davidic king taking the throne and thus stopping any future Messiah being born. If she had been successful there would be no Jesus, no cross, no salvation, no people of God. It was the quick thinking of Jehosheba, a woman most of us have never heard of and don’t think much about, that led to Joash being hidden, then saved, and eventually installed as king.

It struck me as at least probable that Jehosheba would have thought very little about future repercussions of her actions. It’s unclear from the text if she had any particular thought for protecting the line of David, but I imagine in the moment wasn’t thinking especially about the theological implications of the matter. She certainly hadn’t ever heard about Jesus and likely didn’t have any significant concern for the implications of what she was doing for God’s plan of salvation. It seems to me she simply did what seemed right in the situation as it presented itself to her. God put the person he wanted in the place he wanted her, moved the priests to help, so that his plans would come to pass.

Whilst the Lord evidently uses ordinary providence to fulfil his purposes, it is simultaneously true that he puts the people he wants in the places he wants them to fulfil his purposes. As believers, this means we are simply called to be faithful in whatever the situation is in front of us and trust that the Lord has put us here, for this, for whatever reason he has determined. We may have no idea how our small bits of faithfulness will echo down through eternity, just like I imagine Jehosheba had no idea that her small act of faithfulness in the matter presented to her would be the means of God keeping his entire plan of salvation for the world on track.

If that much is true, what are we supposed to do when we face our own personal existential crises? I am surely not alone in having these with disturbing regularity. Why am I here? What am I doing? Why am I the one doing it? What is the point of this?

It seems to me the answers boil down to three things: (1) Because God puts the people he wants in the places he wants them to do the things he wants them to do, I am the person God must want to be doing this right now because I am here. (2) The thing I am doing is aiming to be faithful with whatever the presenting thing is in front of me right now. (3) The point of doing this is that God puts whom he wants where he wants them to be faithful in ordinary ways that will – in ways I have no idea how they might unfold – echo down through eternity somehow. Which, when it boils down to it, means cracking on faithfully with whatever is in front of me, trying to be Christian in whatever I do about it, because I am the one placed here by God to be Christian in the the things I have to do that are in front of me right now.

I do not even means these things in any sort of hifalutin kind of way. I mean the basic ordinary stuff of everyday life. Getting up, getting dressed, getting my kids to school, doing my job, making the tea, going to bed, interacting with people I see. All the kinds of things that most people do everyday. Each and every one an opportunity to do faithfully or unfaithfully (yes, really!) Each one a fresh opportunity to moan unfaithfully about yet another thing to do or to give thanks to God for what he has given me. Each an opportunity to evidence something of my love for Christ or to detract from him simply by what I do, how I do it or my demeanour as I do it. Each an opportunity for something – no matter how seemingly small – to have ramifications for the kingdom down the line that we could not possibly imagine because what we did was so insignificant to us and yet all part of God’s ultimate plan.

And what of when I just don’t feel it? What of when I just don’t want to do it (whatever it is)? Ultimately, you and I are there because God placed us there to do the faithful thing. It doesn’t really matter if you want to do it or not. It doesn’t really matter if you feel the significance of it or not. It simply matters that you are there, you are called to be faithful in what you’ve been given to do, for it the Lord Christ you are serving. In so being faithful, he may just have worked your seemingly insignificant faithfulness into his plans in such a way as they have a far bigger impact than you might ever realise or see this side of glory. If Jesus could make a lot out of just a cup of cold water (cf. Matt 10:42) it is hard to imagine just how significant some of our small acts of faithfulness might be. They matter because you are the one who is there to do them and God puts the people he wants in the places he wants them to that end.