A Snail’s Pace — Adam’s Angle

Child celebrities don’t turn out well. The Danny Bonaduces, Gary Colemans and Britney Spears start on the fast track to success, but often end in a train wreck.

Too much success, too quickly — and they can’t handle it. Yet, we Christians haven’t learned from them. We may not seek fame, but we often seek quick solutions to the problems we face. Like them, we are in danger of becoming victims of instant success.

We pray, “God, please give me a winning lottery ticket, so I can be out of debt tomorrow,” or, “Lord, I need my husband to be a spiritual leader in our home. Can’t you just turn him into a Billy Graham overnight?”

If God doesn’t cater to our need for speed we feel let down. We wrongly think that a slow or gradual answer to prayer is no answer at all.

On the contrary. We should be thrilled when God chooses to bless us slowly because His steady pace often helps us to avoid unseen problems and to grow with the blessing. God’s slower blessings are often bigger blessings.

Inching Your Way to the Promised Land

God had some great news for Moses. He was going to send some mighty help to pave the way for the Israelites to enter the Promised Land:

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. . . 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. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hitites out of your way. (Exodus 23:20, 27-28)

Moses was probably thinking, “Great! That’s just what I hoped you would say. Let’s go for it!” And when we hear God telling us good news like this — when we see Him start to turn around our financial situation, or see Him start moving our spouse’s heart to become more godly — we feel ready to cross the finish line before the race has even started.

Hold your horses. There was something Moses needed to know before he sped his way over to the land flowing with milk and honey. God wasn’t in a rush: “But I will not drive them out in a single year” (Exodus 23:29).

Uh, why not, Lord?

Little by Little

God graciously explained to Moses why He was working gradually:

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.

God gives two reasons for not offering instant deliverance here. First, God’s gradual answer was helping to fix some unseen problems. He was concerned for how desolate the land would become with no one to farm it. He was also concerned about how an influx of wild animals would overrun His people.

Second, God’s gradual answer was enabling His people to grow in step with the blessing. God desired for the Israelites to increase in number over time so they could handle what was being entrusted to them.

Although our circumstances are different than those of the Israelites, the same principles apply to us. God’s gradual answers to prayer can often help us avoid unseen problems and grow in maturity so we can rightly use what He blesses us with.

Think about it. If you had that winning lotto ticket, maybe you’d have to give most of it away in taxes. Maybe you’d be harassed by an army of con-artists who had heard that you hit it big. And you certainly wouldn’t learn much about financial responsibility and not using credit cards.

Or, if your husband morphed into Billy Graham overnight, how would you react when he told you he felt it was God’s will for your entire family to move to Guatemala by the end of the week to do missions? Would you be ready for it?

Probably not. And that’s why God’s gradual blessings are so perfect. He knows what we are made of and what pace we can safely handle.

So be encouraged by those snail’s pace answers to your prayers. They’ll be worth the wait.

— Adam Pivec
5/31/09