A Calculated Plan

Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. —Deuteronomy 7:21, 22, NIV

One morning, while on spring break, I was reading Deuteronomy 7, where Moses explained how God would allow the children of Israel to conquer the Promised Land from the other nations. Moses specified that God would drive out the heathen nations little by little. I wondered why God chose to do something of such great importance gradually when He could do it instantaneously. After moments of pondering, the revelation came.

God might have been using this strategic method for a dual effect: destruction and reconstruction. In driving out the nations little by little (destruction), the Israelites would simultaneously have the opportunity to reconstruct their lives by progressively eradicating ungodly characteristics in themselves and deepening their faith in God.

I often struggle with the “need-it-now” syndrome, and so I almost always want my prayers to be answered immediately. Thus, I tend to get impatient when God uses the little-by-little approach when answering some of my prayers. Daily, I pray to God, asking Him to bless me with a godly spouse—a prayer I thought would have been answered instantly. I am still waiting for an answer, but after reading these two verses from Deuteronomy, I am reminded of something. God may not give me a husband instantly, as I think He should, because little by little, He is simultaneously preparing me to be a godly wife while growing my faith in Him. Isn’t it awesome to know that we serve the same God as the Israelites, and just as He was calculating then, He is calculating now because He changes not (see Malachi 3:6)? As we go through life, God may not answer all our prayers immediately, but some prayers He will answer strategically. God may be deliberately using some of our prayers to grow our faith in Him.

Growing faith in God takes time, and so God has to use different strategies to rebuild our faith in Him. Thus, God’s little-by-little approach is the perfect remedy because it has a dual effect: it not only cures our need-it-now syndrome but also builds our faith in Him.

Sutania McBean