Little by Little

"I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land." Exodus 23:28-30

I think everyone would like to miraculously wake up skinny one morning. Isn't it our dreams to go to bed overweight and wake up completely transformed? I believe God could make us lose 100 pounds overnight if He thought that was best for us. But, I believe our Heavenly Father is all about the process...and He's all about us and our protection.

I was thinking about my own weight loss journey and the process it has been, and these verses from Exodus came to mind. Similar to the reasons God had for not delivering the entire Promised Land into the hands of the Israelites all at once, there are reasons for us not experiencing drastic overnight weight-loss. For one, I'm not sure our skin could handle it. As we lose weight slowly, our skin has time to shrink along with our body. More than the physical reasons, though, I think there are Spiritual reasons we haven't thought about.

Can we handle it? Being blatantly honest, if you thought you looked 'good' or 'smokin' hot' (my favorite!), how would you handle it? Would you be more likely to sin in another area of life? Would you be an easier target for the enemy in some area? Would you be quicker to judge others going through similar struggles? Is your heart guarded to worship God alone and not think too highly of yourself? Would you struggle with pride? While these are tough questions, you can answer them honestly for yourself. I've had to lose weight via a journey with the Lord so that my heart, motivations and desires were more pure than if I had done it on my own. I needed to guard my heart and my mind with the Bible verses I've been studying. God knew that if I woke up one day looking extraordinary, I may not handle it well. Instead, He's allowed me to walk the path with Him, and I get to learn from Him in the process!

While my journey is far from over, I'm glad that God has driven back the 'fat' little-by-little so that I have no room for pride. It has been Him producing this change in me. All I can do is bow on my face in worship of the Most High God. I pray that He continues to take us (me and those of you reading this) to the Promised Land of a healthy body for His glory. May we drive back the enemy and come to a place in life where we can fully handle the responsibility that comes with this new territory. Praise be to the Lord!

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You know best. Thank You that You won't give us more than we can handle. God, we ask that You would prepare our hearts and minds for the next step in our lives, where we are healthy and thin for Your glory. Keep us humble, keep us alert against enemy deception and keep us in holy communion and worship with You, our only God. May we glorify You with all we think, say and do. In Jesus' name, AMEN!