Deuteronomy 7.22
Prosperity, Little by Little
The Lord, who faithfully bought the Israelites out of Egypt, is about to give them the Promised Land. There are other nations, kings and armies living there – but God has promised that land to the Israelites.
22 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. (Deu 7:22 NIV)
“Little by little” here is so easily overlooked, yet so significant to the text and ultimately to our lives today. God, in his infinite wisdom, did not merely give Israel nuclear warheads and tell them to go conquer easily, quickly, and effortlessly. He could have, or something similar to immediately give endless blessings to his people.
Rather, God chose to give the promised land “little by little” emphasizing a greater purpose than merely possessing God’s promises. The part about wild animals multiplying around them means if it was all at once, they would not have the ability to wisely use the Promise Land and be fruitful in it.
Much like our lives today, God does not give us endless bountiful blessings, because often we show too clearly we can’t be trusted with what we already have, much less ten times as much. Unlike prosperity theology that demands much instantly, God’s prosperity gives blessings as we grow and can handle them. Indeed, it is a difficult thing to turn away from prosperity we long for, and be satisfied with what God has already provided. Rather than spending our time seeking what we do not have, we should probably focus on getting wisdom to be faithful with what we already have. It should be noted that God doesn’t condemn the Israelites for this. Rather, it is a warning/explanation that God is less concerned with endlessly giving us things we don’t need and can’t handle, and more concerned with wisdom and taking care of his blessings He has given.
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