{"id":19992,"date":"2022-01-25T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-23_10-19-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-01-23T18:36:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T01:36:15","slug":"exodus-23_20-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-23_20-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Go for \u201cLittle By Little\u201d Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exodus 23:20-33 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 23:20-33.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 23:20 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 20:\u00a0\u00a0Just as the LORD would send an angel to go before the Israelites to guard them and lead them to the place He prepared for them, repeatedly the Bible says that\u00a0God goes before you (Psalm 139:5; Isaiah 45:2; Isaiah 52:12) to guard you and to lead the way for you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Exodus 23:21-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-23:\u00a0\u00a0There is a good argument to make that this angel of the LORD is no ordinary angel, since this angel seems to command the people\u2019s obedience (\u201cDo not rebel against him\u201d \u2013 v21)), has the power to grant forgiveness (v21) and bears the Name of the Lord (\u201csince my Name is in him\u201d \u2013 v21).\u00a0\u00a0This angel of the LORD seems to work in tandem together with the LORD Himself (v22-23).\u00a0\u00a0This is like the same angel as the angel of the LORD who appears in Exodus 3.\u00a0 Scholars may have a point when they suggest that this angel of the LORD is no less than a theophany of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.\u00a0\u00a0If that is the case, then that would mean that the Lord Jesus Christ was actively and personally leading the Israelites to their Promised Land.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s leading you into your promised land too.<\/p>\n

Exodus 23:24-30 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-30:\u00a0\u00a0The LORD promises to make the Israelites\u2019 journey to conquer the promised land successful.\u00a0\u00a0However, He notes that their success would not come all at once, but \u201clittle by little\u201d (v30).\u00a0\u00a0Otherwise, \u201cthe land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.\u201d (v29)<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0We all want things to be successful in a short time. But\u00a0Exodus\u00a023:29-30 teaches us something hugely important about success:\u00a0don’t chase instant success; instead chase “little by little” success<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Exodus\u00a023, God could have driven out the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites from the Promised Land in an instant.\u00a0 So why didn’t He?\u00a0 It’s because the Israelites would not be able to handle such instant success, with all the responsibilities, challenges and temptations that come with it (v29). So instead God gave the Israelites success “little by little” (v30).<\/p>\n

In the same way,\u00a0God will not give you huge success all in an instant because you would not be able to handle or appreciate all the responsibilities, pressure, challenges and temptations that would go with that instant success. So more often than not, God lets you work for it little by little.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you been seeking instant success, whether it’s in your career, family, ministry, health, relationships or learning something new? Don’t. Instead, seek success\u00a0little by little.\u00a0Chase one small victory, and then another, and then another. When you do, not only will you be successful in the end, but you will have developed the muscles and the experience necessary to handle all that success effectively.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Proverbs 13:11 (ESV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers\u00a0little by little<\/strong>\u00a0will increase it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So don’t give up, but go for “little by little” success. The territory will be yours eventually, and you\u2019ll appreciate the process and the destination that much more.<\/p>\n

Exodus 23:31-33 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”<\/p>\n

On verses 31-33:\u00a0\u00a0Why does the LORD forbid the Israelites to make a covenant with the peoples that they will be driving or with the gods that those peoples worship?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because the LORD knew how easily His people could be led astray by false gods.\u00a0\u00a0It is the same reason why in the New Testament Christians are commanded not to yoke themselves (i.e. involve themselves in co-dependent relationships) with unbelievers, lest they severely compromise their risk and risk losing it entirely (see 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing me today that instead of big instant overnight success, I should focus on gaining victories little by little, knowing that small victories taken in the same direction will eventually lead to big results.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for being the One who goes before me and leads the way for me.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 23:20-33.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 23:20 (NIV)
\n20\u00a0\u00a0“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.<\/p>\n

On verse 20:\u00a0\u00a0Just as the LORD would send an angel to go before the Israelites to guard them and lead them to the place He prepared for them, repeatedly the Bible says that\u00a0God goes before you (Psalm 139:5; Isaiah 45:2; Isaiah 52:12) to guard you and to lead the way for you.<\/p>\n

Exodus 23:21-23 (NIV)
\n21\u00a0\u00a0Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
\n22\u00a0\u00a0If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
\n23\u00a0\u00a0My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19992"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19993,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992\/revisions\/19993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}