It isn’t a term for the impatient. Not something you want to press upon the avidly ambitious. Somewhat out of sync with our instant gratification nature. But it’s a phrase that’s caught my attention and one that, as I chew on it a bit, seems to be the normative way of God.

And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

(Exodus 23:28-30 ESV)

Little by little . . . Noodle on that.

The land was theirs. Promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A done deal. Taking possession of it was as certain as was their deliverance from Egypt. It was gonna happen. What God begins; God finishes (Php. 1:6). But it was gonna happen little by little.

Practically it wouldn’t have made sense to entirely empty the land first and then move the people in. There was infrastructure to be maintained — cities and towns to be kept from falling into ruin and fields needing to be tended in order to maintain their fruitfulness — while the people of God settled into, and grew into, the expanse of all that had been promised them. No, God in His wisdom and for His purposes knew that the possessing of the promised land would need to be a little by little thing.

Little by little . . .

God can do whatever He wants to do however He wants to do it, but I’m thinking that little by little may be the normative approach for the people of God receiving the promises of God. That we aren’t rescued from the slavery of sin one moment and then walking in practical sanctification the next. That there needs to be increase in order to fully possess. That we need to patiently grow in order to practically know “what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Cor. 2:9).

Little by little . . .

Knowing the fullness of what’s promised is going to take some faithfulness to the process. We need to learn how to put on the new man (to put on the new woman) while gaining experience with doing battle against the flesh through the power of the Spirit.

Little by little . . .

It’s a faith thing. Especially when we inevitably experience the failure thing. When we encounter those inevitable times when we seem to be losing ground and need to realize afresh that the only solid ground we have to stand on is the ground at the foot of the cross — the ground of the gospel.

Little by little . . .

By His grace. For His glory.