Little by Little

Exodus 23:20-31 is a very interesting account of the children of Israel, and the command the Lord gave them to go into the lands to destroy the nations around them.

Verse 23 "For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:..." caused me to stop and read again. The message was a personal one, that God"s angel takes me into the battle ground, but will also deliver me. But I am not to follow my enemies nor do as they do. Suddenly I realized that angels are very active part of man's lives. I don't just walk into the midst of a battle, but God has placed me there.


For me that battle ground can be the desert, the mountain, in a crowd, in an earthquake, on the mission field, and in my home. God has led me there to teach me lessons I could never learn anywhere else. But God did not leave me there alone. He was pruning me to make me more like Him. 


Verse 28-29 "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land."


The pruning was painful, and was not completed in one moment. But little by little He took those sins, those things that stand in the way of  my growing in Him. Oh the graciousness of God! God loves me so much, His patience far exceeds what I can imagine.


One day we will be with Him forever, and the pruning will be complete. One day....


God bless you.