Little by little

God is longing to be for us...
to cheer us on,
to fight for us,
to have us on His winning team.

And He wanted the same for the children of Israel as He led them
out of slavery and toward the Promised Land.
Which is why He gave them boundaries...
guidelines, rules and laws to keep them from harm.

And because He is the giver of all good things...
we need to also understand that our God is a jealous God.
And He longs to be the only one that we worship...
having no other god or idol on our heart before Him.

But He knew that the land He had promised to give them,
the place He planned to bring them
was filled with people who already worshipped idols...
who did not have a heart for Him.

And so God instructed His children as they entered the land,
You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
Exodus 23:24

And God promised to help them,
to fight for them and to bless them.
But it would need to be on His timeframe, not theirs.
I will not drive them out from before you in one year,
lest the land become desolate and
the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
Little by little I will drive them out from before you,
until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
Exodus 23:29-30

And that always seems to be a hard thing for us to understand.
God's timing... at least it is for me.

Because we all want instant results.
We all want our blessing to happen now.
We all want the promise to be fulfilled immediately.
I mean, God promised it, and He can do anything...
and we are willing to obey, right?
So why can't we have it now?

But God sees things from a different view.
His is often...  little by little.

And since He is God, and He is sovereign,
the Creator, the Owner and Originator of all things...
I guess that means He gets to pick the timeline too.
Even when we get in a rush.

For God knows what can happen if things move too quickly.
...lest the land become desolate
and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
He obviously knows that if He cleared the way for our blessing as we imagine it,
in a swift and miraculous manner, there could be room for desolation...
where we find ourselves barren, lonely, sorrowful and possibly in ruin.

Let's say we have a dream for something big...
and we think we are ready for it.
If God gives it to us too soon...
when we do not have the foundation needed to uphold the dream,
we can become devastated in ways we never expected.
And our dream can come crashing down upon us.

So He slows us down a bit, even though we do not understand...
and He brings us along, little by little into our new promise
only as we are ready,
only as we are prepared,
only as it has just enough room for us...
lacking room for beasts who lie in wait.

For our Lord loves us...
much too much to let us be left sorrowful and barren.
Our Lord loves us...
much too much to let us be exposed to beasts of prey.

Word of God... train me, today...
to live well in God's timeline of little by little,
to be patient in the now while He prepares me for my blessing.

Lord,
I thank You for the little by little.
Even when my heart gets in a hurry, Lord,
slow me down to know that You have my best in mind.

Guide me and protect me, Lord,
as I seek to serve You with my life.
Show me which way to walk
as I step into the blessings You have for me.
Help me to obey all that You speak into my life.