Little by Little

Scripture Verse that Caught my attention today: Deuteronomy 7:22 The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you.

Observation: Little by little is sometimes the better way.

Application: I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wished things in life could be fixed or attained or accomplished quickly, without a bunch of drama and stress. “Why” I’ve sometimes wondered, “do we have to go through a sometimes difficult process for any real growth to occur?” Why can’t we have a life-time’s worth of wisdom right now? If we are athletes, why can’t we accomplish great success without all the practice? If we are entrepreneurs, why can’t we just come up with one idea and have it immediately sell like hotcakes? Why can’t our children grow from cradle to adulthood without the occasional conflict of wills and God only knows how many other incidents of stress?

The passage above is telling; success (whatever that is) too quickly is incredibly difficult to manage. We’re usually not ready for it and incapable of truly handling it. Little by little is more manageable. We grow at each stage.

I’ll admit that parts to today’s readings are troubling. It’s difficult to process/comprehend/appreciate the Lord’s command for the Israelites to utterly destroy the people before them as found in Deuteronomy 7. Equally troubling is the fact that I caught myself almost skimming over the story of Jesus’ crucifixion today as found in Mark 15. It’s as if I was so familiar with the story that the gruesome reality of it didn’t even register! And to think that I sometimes think I have problems!

Yet little by little the Lord is helping me to grow in faith and understanding. The process doesn’t always move as quckily as I would like. Yet it would appear that little by little is still far more desirable in the long run.

Prayer: Lord thanks for the gift of faith and growth that you offer to us little by little, sometimes through struggle by struggle. Surely it prepares us for something. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(readings today included: Deuteronomy 7-9 and Mark 15)