Mattaniah was one of the men who were chosen by the casting of lots to dwell in Jerusalem. He was part of that remnant who were living in Judah after the period of Babylonian captivity. The population of Jerusalem was very low. This under-population problem was solved by casting lots among the inhabitants of Judah and moving people into the city from the surrounding towns and villages. Mattaniah was placed on this list of names.

There are many such lists in Ezra and Nehemiah! Usually nothing is said about the individuals on the various lists of names. This makes it a temptation for us to just skip reading these lists and genealogies. But that would be a mistake!

In the list found in Nehemiah 11, it is mentioned that Mattaniah “began the thanksgiving with prayer.” This does not sound like a big deal, but it is duly mentioned and recorded. In the Bible. Forever. Don’t ever think that your small services done for Christ are forgotten, or unnoticed, or lost in the sea of eternity—not at all!

At the judgment seat of Christ, our failures may be reviewed but they will not be permanently recorded; your testimony in glory will not be your failure, but your service for the King, however humanly insignificant. Mattaniah probably did not think at the time that his act of beginning the thanksgiving with prayer was significant or important. Perhaps, he thought, if God remembered anything at all, it would be how many times he had failed Him. We all think like that at times, but this one little spiritual act is recorded here for all eternity. It was a small act but, as we often say, “Little is much when God is in it.”