Nehemiah 7:21-25: a reflection

This is another portion of the long list of families who returned from exile, counted by their ancestral houses. Some of the numbers are large, but many are strikingly small, families of ninety-five, of ninety-eight, of a hundred and twelve. In a record that could have simply noted the big groups and moved on, even these small families are named and counted. No household was too small to be included in the register of God's returning people.

There is a quiet dignity in this careful counting. God's people were not treated as an undifferentiated crowd; each family, even the small ones, was recorded and given its place. The family of ninety-five mattered as much as the family of thousands. In the accounting of God's people, size did not determine significance; every household that belonged was named and numbered, its return honored in the sacred record.

This speaks to anyone who feels small and insignificant, one of a little group, easily overlooked in favor of the large and impressive. In God's accounting, the small are not passed over. The family of ninety-five was counted as carefully as any other. If you feel like part of something small, a small church, a small work, a small and unnoticed life, take heart. God does not overlook the small. He counts and names each one who belongs to him, and your place among his people is secure, however small it seems.