‘“No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. But the Lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all.’ Deuteronomy 7:21-24
So before I get into this a little context first. This takes place after the people of Israel were rescued from Egypt but not yet in the promised land. Moses had sent spies into the promised land so the people knew what they were up against. In the natural they had a reason to be afraid, the people were bigger, more numerous, and better equipt than them. So that is basically where God starts talking to them in this section of scripture.
First of all, I love how God is continually trying to instill courage into his people. Constantly telling them, and us, you got this! You can do this! Then God says,
“The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little.”
Isn’t this always the way. God has a way of doing things and many times it is little by little. Now with that said I’ll put the disclaimer in there that there are seasons he takes us far and he does it quickly but that is for a different time back to my point. We have a way we think things should be done and it is “here and now. But, what is the reason for the little by little? The reason that God says here is, if I drive them out before you all at once you won’t be equipped to handle the increase. I must do it little by little so that what I give you will be sustainable by you. Specifically, it says that;
“the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you”
Today we generally don’t have to worry about wild animals. But there is a principle here that we need to keep in mind. There is a reason your path with God seems like it is happening slowly and it probably is for your own good. God sees the wild animals that would come in and steal your time and distract you from your main purpose. So today I encourage you to look at the path God has you on, and it might seem like you have been on it for a while, remember where you started. God is bringing you on a journey. Enjoy the process!
