Have you ever found yourself stuck in a long checkout line, tapping your foot impatiently as the minutes tick by? Or perhaps you’ve been caught behind a slow driver when you’re already running late. In these moments, it’s easy to feel like you’re wasting precious time. But what if I told you that, in God’s economy, no time is ever truly wasted?
This truth becomes particularly poignant when we look at the story of the Israelites in Exodus 16. Fresh from their miraculous escape from Egypt, they found themselves wandering in the wilderness. The excitement of freedom quickly gave way to uncertainty and fear. As they looked around at the barren landscape, they began to wonder if they had made a terrible mistake.
In their frustration, they did what many of us do when faced with uncertainty – they looked back with rose-tinted glasses. “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted.” It’s almost comical how quickly they sanitized their memories of slavery, focusing only on the creature comforts they once enjoyed.
But aren’t we guilty of the same thing? When life feels uncertain or uncomfortable, we often long for the “good old days,” conveniently forgetting the struggles and pain that came with them. We filter out the hardships and remember only the parts that felt safe and comfortable.
This tendency reveals an important truth: our nostalgia isn’t really about the past – it’s about our discomfort with the present. And it’s in this very discomfort that God begins to shape us.
Think of it like pruning a vine. To an outsider, pruning might look destructive. After all, you’re cutting away parts of the plant. But a skilled gardener knows that this process redirects the plant’s energy, allowing it to produce more and better fruit. In the same way, God uses our current struggles to shape us for something better down the road.
So instead of longing for the past, what if we asked, “What if God is using our current struggles to shape us for something better?” This shift in perspective can transform our waiting periods from frustrating wastes of time into opportunities for growth and preparation.
In response to the Israelites’ complaints, God provided a solution – but not in the way they might have expected. He didn’t magically transport them to the Promised Land or give them a lifetime supply of food. Instead, He provided exactly what they needed for each day – manna from heaven and quail in the evening.
This daily provision wasn’t just about meeting their physical needs. It was a training ground for their hearts. If they had received everything at once, they might have forgotten where it came from. Instead, God was teaching them to rely on Him daily, to trust in His provision one step at a time.
This approach mirrors how life naturally unfolds. We read books one page at a time, hike trails one step at a time, and drive to our destinations one mile at a time. Life is meant to be taken one day at a time because that’s all we can truly handle.
There’s wisdom in this approach. Small, consistent improvements compound over time, leading to significant growth. If you improve by just 1% every day, by the end of the year, you’ll be 37 times better than when you started. This principle applies to our spiritual lives as well. Small, daily acts of faithfulness add up over time to shape us in powerful ways.
So, what’s one small step you can take towards God’s purpose in your life? Maybe it’s spending five more minutes in prayer each day. Perhaps it’s offering forgiveness to someone you’ve been holding a grudge against. Or it could be as simple as calling a friend to offer encouragement. Whatever it is, remember that God isn’t asking you to solve everything at once. He’s simply giving you enough for today.
These small steps, these “enough for today” moments, are not random. They’re leading us somewhere, even if we can’t see the destination yet. They shape us into people who can recognize God at work, not just in dramatic moments, but in His daily provision.
The challenge we face is that we live in a world that doesn’t value small steps. We’re accustomed to instant gratification – next-day delivery, instant downloads, microwave meals. But our spiritual growth doesn’t happen in an instant. It’s more like a crockpot than a microwave, slowly transforming us over time.
Sometimes, the route God has for us isn’t the most direct. It’s the scenic route, full of twists and turns we didn’t expect. This can be frustrating when we just want to arrive at our destination. But let’s not be so focused on where we’re going that we miss out on the journey itself.
Think of it like training for a marathon. No one wakes up one morning and decides to run 26.2 miles without preparation. Runners build endurance over time, working their way slowly – step by step – until they can cover the distance. Our faith works the same way. We don’t decide to follow Jesus and suddenly become mature Christians. We grow into it, one day at a time.
Surprisingly, even in waiting, we can make progress. In the upside-down economy of God’s kingdom, waiting faithfully is one of the most important steps we can take. Waiting isn’t the same as doing nothing. When we actively wait on God, we’re still taking small steps of faith in our daily lives.
Every little act of trust, every choice to obey, and every moment we choose to live in faith leads us closer to God’s destination. We may not see it yet, but God is working in our hearts. Who we were is not who we are, and who we are is not who we will be when we live by faith.
So the next time you feel stuck – whether it’s in a checkout line, at a traffic light, or in a season of life that seems to be going nowhere – remember that no time is wasted in God’s economy. He uses the struggle to shape us, gives us enough for today, and leads us step by step toward our destination.
The challenge, then, is to stop despising the small steps and start seeing them as sacred. They may not make headlines, but in a kingdom-focused economy, it’s these faithful steps that make all the difference. When you look back months or years from now, you’ll see that those “enough for today” moments really added up. It was in the small steps that God was growing your faith, shaping your heart, and leading you to places you didn’t even know existed.
So tomorrow morning, before you rush out the door, ask yourself, “What is my one small step today?” And then take it. Because no step, no matter how small it may seem, is wasted in God’s plan for your life.
