Little by Little

I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. ~ Exodus 23:29

The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you. ~ Deuteronomy 7:22

“Nothing can be done except little by little.” ~ Charles Baudelaire

People want everything to be instant, but change cannot come in a moment. God calls us to cooperation in His purposes, to be yoked with Him in the work of the Kingdom, but for a long haul, for a process of transformation. I do not refer to healing or miracles, but to “possessing the land,” to moving into God’s plan and purpose in our lives–-getting to the place He has called us to be the people He desires.

The “peoples” that surround us, the “nations” He will dispossess before us, the weights and besetting sins and pains and inner idolatries are not all swept away instantly. As much as we want it to go that way, it can never be.

We enter the land step by step, moment by moment, a little at a time.