Little By Little

 I’ll drive them out before you little by little, until your numbers grow and you eventually possess the land.  Exodus 23:30 CEB

On Saturday mornings there is an educational show called Origins, which reveals the origin of some things used in our time. Last week it was about helicopters, and how it was developed was literally one foot at a time and over centuries. The first helicopter got one foot off the ground, the next one 2 feet, the next 3 feet and so on until we have the helicopters of today.

It got me thinking about today’s verse. God was just telling Israel that He would help them conquer all  the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And as long as they worshipped Him only, He would even bless them with good health and long life along with victories over all their enemies and His reputation would proceed them. Then comes today’s verse where He tells them how He’s going to do it little, by little.

Most times this is how we still conquer our enemies, little by little. Not because God couldn’t get us out of any problem or crisis we are in, but He does it slowly to help us see Him as He truly is and to develop our trust and reliance on Him. In the process, it also shows us changes we need to make so that we can live the abundant life Jesus died to give us. making Him the center of our lives, worship and praise will not keep the enemy from attacking us, but it will secure the victory Jesus won for us at the cross.

This is the time of year we focus on giving thanks, but grateful and thankful hearts, minds and lives should be an everyday occurrence for the Believer. When we have an gratitude attitude we won’t be focused on long it may be taking, because time spent with the Lord is helping us become more like Him. And in the process we will be showing the world who Jesus truly is and they too will want a relationship with Him.