“Little by Little”
Today, Lakewood gathers together to worship in an amazing, beautiful auditorium. What I remember about this building is that over thirty years ago, Joel and I were sitting in the same auditorium on our very first date watching the Houston Rockets play basketball. Our journey to where we are started very small, and I can tell you that there was a lot of small stuff we had to learn along the way. Joel and I couldn't begin to handle what's going on in our lives today unless we learned how to handle the small stuff that God kept bringing to us. We did not have the capacity. We were not even close to being ready to deal with these responsibilities.
When the Israelites were going to possess the Promised Land, God said, "Little by little I will drive your enemies out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land" (Exodus 23:30). God started small, slowly decreasing the enemies, because He wanted His people to go big. He wanted them to grow their own capacity to be able to handle what He was going to give them in the future. He didn't want the land to overtake them. He wanted them to overtake the land. God was increasing them incrementally throughout their journey.
God wants to increase us, but oftentimes we overlook the small things because we want to go big. We may even think that we don't have to deal with something small because it's not going to make that much difference anyway. It's easy to think that how we're treating our spouse or all the complaining we do about our job doesn't really matter. Perhaps there's a lack of integrity, leaving the office early, thinking the boss isn't looking. And on top of that, too often we think we don't have the right education or the finances or the right people connections to achieve our dreams.
All of that is small stuff, but God says what we believe and our attitudes are very important. The small things matter to Him, and if we don't learn to handle the small, we'll never go big. You want a great marriage or that promotion at work. You have to do what's right in the small things. Perhaps you need to forgive someone or start being on time at work. That may seem small, but it's only "little by little" that you can go big.
If you will learn to handle the small things in your life, He'll enlarge your capacity for more. That's how God works. He takes the small, and He goes big in your life.
When the Israelites were going to possess the Promised Land, God said, "Little by little I will drive your enemies out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land" (Exodus 23:30). God started small, slowly decreasing the enemies, because He wanted His people to go big. He wanted them to grow their own capacity to be able to handle what He was going to give them in the future. He didn't want the land to overtake them. He wanted them to overtake the land. God was increasing them incrementally throughout their journey.
God wants to increase us, but oftentimes we overlook the small things because we want to go big. We may even think that we don't have to deal with something small because it's not going to make that much difference anyway. It's easy to think that how we're treating our spouse or all the complaining we do about our job doesn't really matter. Perhaps there's a lack of integrity, leaving the office early, thinking the boss isn't looking. And on top of that, too often we think we don't have the right education or the finances or the right people connections to achieve our dreams.
All of that is small stuff, but God says what we believe and our attitudes are very important. The small things matter to Him, and if we don't learn to handle the small, we'll never go big. You want a great marriage or that promotion at work. You have to do what's right in the small things. Perhaps you need to forgive someone or start being on time at work. That may seem small, but it's only "little by little" that you can go big.
If you will learn to handle the small things in your life, He'll enlarge your capacity for more. That's how God works. He takes the small, and He goes big in your life.