Little By Little (Exodus 23:30)

 


Saturday, May 10, 2025


Psalm 25

Exodus 23:20-33

John 10:31-42


Little By Little (Exodus 23:30)


Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.


The pursuit of holiness can be quite frustrating at times. We can find ourselves crying out with St Paul that we have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (Romans 7:18) But there can be great comfort if we were to just sit down and look back over our lives and see that how, little by little, God has driven back those parts of us we don’t like, while the bits we do have had time to settle in.


It may be risky to read these words from God to Moses about the upcoming invasion of Canaan and directly translate them to our own spiritual development. This way of reading the Bible is how the ancient Church did things, and sometimes they did it quite well. There is also the danger of losing the immediate context of the passage and just going right off the rails completely. So let’s remember not to over-spiritualise the book of the Exodus: these events really did happen, and these words were written not to us, but to Moses’ readers.


While they weren’t written to us, they were written for us, however. We can keep the integrity of the literal truth of these words without over-spiritualising them if we can bring in other texts of the Bible that speak to the same general idea. So let’s consider God’s reason for the invasion being little by little: it was lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against the Israelites (Exodus 23:29). Does this pattern fit with what we know about the pursuit of holiness?


Jesus said, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26) Perhaps this is why the pursuit of holiness is little by little, and not over and done with in one year. God has designed us to be taken on a journey, rather than have an immediate complete makeover.


So let us press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) Little by little, God is transforming us into the image of Christ, through the ever-abiding presence of his Holy Spirit. If this is the way God wants it to be, then let us enjoy the journey, reveling in the effort that results in success, and joyfully looking back on the paths we took to get here.


What personal frustrations are you currently dealing with? What past successes give you encouragement for the future?


God of our protection and holiness: teach us so to enjoy the journey you are leading us on that we may be filled with encouragement to continue and, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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