Like Layers of an Onion

    Why doesn’t God just whip us into shape when we are first born again. I think the answer begins with a statement in the Old Testament when the Israelites were receiving instructions on their entrance to the Land of Promise: “I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have increased, and you inherit the land.”—Exodus 23:28,29

I feel like I could teach endlessly on these scriptures, but now is not the time. Point: the whole journey of the Israelites on into the Land is a picture and type of the Christian’s journey through life with Christ. Think about it. Search it out.

Possessing the Land was definitely a process and was to be accomplished a little at a time—like peeling back the layers of an onion. As we walk with Him and talk with Him, He peels back a layer and (hopefully) we receive His revelation from the Word and the Holy Spirit as to how to “increase” so that the land is progressively taken. One layer at a time.

If you have been saved for awhile, you can look back and see this process in action. Were you ready to receive the truth back then that you now have at least partially grasped? Setbacks? Read the Bible if you want to hear of others who had “setbacks”. Some learned; some didn’t.

God is ever wanting to lead us forward with Him: “Come, follow Me,” He says.  “I have already given you the Land—the Land of My Promise--I will drive out your enemies little by little. Possess those parts that I liberate for you, through Christ as your life. Have faith in His processes with you!

“He must increase; but I must decrease”—John the Baptist, John 3:30