Have you ever wanted to take on some really big project in the kingdom of God, but the Lord just wouldn’t seem to let you? If so, there’s probably a good reason why.

You can see what I’m talking about if you’ll read about what God did with the children of Israel after He brought them out of Egypt. He wanted to take them on into the Promised Land. But before He could do it, God had to know if they would obey Him. He had to know if they would listen to His voice. Because if they didn’t, the enemies they were about to face would wipe them out.

So, do you know what He did? He tested them in a small matter.

Exodus 16:4 tells us about this simple test. “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.”

God took a little, insignificant matter—the food they ate—and used it to see if they would listen to Him or not. He told them how much of it to gather, when to gather and when not to, and what to do with it after they brought it in.

And the Israelites went right out and violated those instructions. They showed God by their actions that His voice was not important to them. They were not willing to obey even His simplest commands.

God works the same way today. Before He sends you on a major mission, He gives you the opportunity to prove you can be trusted with small instructions.

But many of us miss that opportunity. We pray, What do You want me to do, Lord? Where do You want me to go? I’ll do anything You say. But then when the Lord says, I want you to get up and pray in the Spirit one hour every morning, we fail to obey Him. We say, “Oh yeah, that would be good. I ought to do that.” But somehow we never quite get around to it.

Don’t make that mistake. Start today obeying God in the little things. Let Him see that He can trust you out there in a place of much authority. Let Him know you’ll be faithful to His words and to the voice of His Spirit. Once He knows you won’t let disobedience wipe you out, He’ll start sending bigger assignments your way.