This week I remembered something a wise woman told me. She talked about the Lord’s work in our lives as being “little by little.” God often doesn’t heal or deliver us all at once. He may work “little by little” in our lives. In Exodus 23:29-30, we read this about God’s settling of the Israelites into the promised land. When God talks about defeating the enemies around them, He says, “But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”
Little by little.
God couldn’t defeat the enemies all at once. The Israelites had to grow first. They had to mature slowly until they were ready for their promised land. Timing and preparation were everything.
We see this account repeated in Deuteronomy 7:22: “The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.”
I think of the “wild animals” that might multiply if we experience deliverance all at once. I think of pride and foolishness. I think of inexperience in spiritual battle. I think of a lack of dependence on the Lord. How thankful I am that God grew me little by little and not all at once.
I take great comfort in God’s promise to work little by little, especially as a parent. I also see the principle at work in good teaching and good discipleship. We work little by little.
If we’re discouraged that God is too slow or not thorough in our deliverance, consider the principle of little by little. And consider how God trains us for what will come. We grow little by little to train us for bigger things. In Psalm 144:1 we read, “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” Or think about Psalm 18:34: “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
I couldn’t bend a bow of bronze last year, but maybe now I can because of God’s training that happened little by little.
[bctt tweet=”God often works little by little (Exodus 23) when healing and delivering. Consider how, if it happened all at once, we wouldn’t be ready (Deut. 7:22). This grows my patience and maturity.”]