The Power of the Smallest Acts

And they told [Jacob], “Joseph [your son] is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned; he could not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph…and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:26-28)

Can our actions possibly matter?

Much of the evidence points to a resounding no. Day after grinding day, the media show us the staggering size of our world, the tectonic trends that move nations and regions, the massive suffering on other continents. How can one person possibly make any impact at all? Why not just lapse into despair or, on the other extreme, live for ourselves and our own little corner of the world?

Then you run across stories like this.

Jacob’s sons had sold their brother Joseph into slavery—and told their father that Joseph was dead. Jacob had lived with the grief for years. Then, during a famine, his sons went to Egypt to buy food, only to find that Joseph had become a ruler, second only to Pharaoh. They bring the joyous news back to Jacob.

Then what happens? Jacob decides to follow every father’s most natural impulse: to go and see his beloved son.

And the whole history of Israel changes in an instant.

Maybe, if Jacob does not go, his clan does not settle in Egypt. They do not, over time, become a nation enslaved to the Egyptians. God has no reason to deliver the nation of Israel—and thus provide one of the greatest examples of God’s passion to save us. As a result, maybe we don’t even come to know God in quite the same way.

The very language of this passage foreshadows the impact of this small act. Up till now, the story refers to Jacob mostly by his birth name, Jacob. When he makes the decision to see his son, though, the passage suddenly calls him Israel—the name God gave him, the name that connotes his position as the patriarch of the future nation. In that one subtle name shift are the shades of what is to come.

This is such good news for us. The truth is, we have no way to tell whether even our smallest, most natural acts might have earth-shaking consequences. But clearly, as the story shows us, we do make an impact. It behooves us, then, to live our lives for good and not ill—to “do the things you have given us to do” (in the words of the Anglican prayer).

This good news also takes the pressure off. Jacob underwent no strategic planning process to consider the results of his actions. He did not attempt to “control outcomes.” He simply did what any father would do. When we live our lives in the Presence of the Divine, we can do the same, without obsessing over results—because the results are not up to us.

In short, then, this story liberates us to live with purpose, because we make an impact, without looking for results, because we can’t know the impact. We are free to lay aside our best-laid plans and simply do justice, love extravagantly, and walk humbly with our God.