The Way God Works

"I will send hornets ahead of you, that they may drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.
I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become deslolate, and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land."
~ Exodus 23:28-30

Little by little. That's God's way. At least, it's been His way in my life. And in the lives of the Israelites, too. Little by little.

When Moses had led the people of God out of Egypt, God told him precisely how He would lead them into the Promised Land. Little by little. They couldn't handle it any other way. They'd been slaves in Egypt for four hundred thirty years. They knew nothing of warfare or laying siege to fortified cities. They weren't ready to possess all that God had for them. Not right away. They had to grow into the Promised Land. God knew that. So He gave it to them "little by little."

I think sometimes we want God to do things He's just not going to do. We want all the promises of God right now. We want "the Promised Land" before we're ready for it. Or, at the very least, we want the five year plan, or the ten year projection. But God is not going to operate that way.

As I reflect back over my life, I see God's hand at work. In my life and in ministry, I've been blessed beyond measure. But He's done it all "little by little." I couldn't have handled it any other way. Twenty five years ago I wasn't ready for all God had for me. There are things in my future I'm not ready to have today.

Little by little can be so frustrating. What I can look back and see today, I couldn't seen then. So many times I found myself out battling enemies I couldn't defeat, trying to take possession of a "Promised Land" I wasn't ready for. I usually got beat-up and ended up discouraged. Looking back now, I see the problem. God's plan was "little by little", but my plan was "hurry up, right now, gotta have it today, let's go, Lord!" I pushed too far. I ran ahead of God. I tried to take the land before I was ready for it, and before God was ready for me to have it.

God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not God's ways. We can all quote it, right? I'm glad God doesn't do things my way. What a mess that would be.