From Surviving to Thriving

“INCREASE…AND POSSESS THE LAND.” DEUTERONOMY 8:1 NIV

After 400 years of slavery God handed the Israelites the deed to a lush, plentiful land they could finally call home. Up until now everything they owned had been provided for them by their Egyptian captors. But slavery had crushed their will and destroyed their initiative; consequently God had to break them of their reliance on people rather than on Him. (People-dependency can make you vulnerable and stunt your growth.) So when God led the Israelites into the wilderness and the leeks and onions they enjoyed in Egypt were gone, they were forced to develop an appetite for manna – something only God can provide! Understand this: When God takes away an old source or system and gives you a new one, it doesn’t mean the old one was no good. It just means He’s chosen a new way of guiding and providing.

When God makes you a promise He always keeps it, but you have to be willing to remove the training wheels of your reliance on people. In the wilderness the Israelites griped and bellyached for the comfort of the familiar, even though it meant going back to an old season that was over. But they couldn’t, and you can’t either! When God said, “Increase…and possess the land,” His plan for them went beyond surviving – to thriving. It meant being weaned off the breast milk of people-dependence and on to the meat of God-dependence. Paul writes: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves…but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5 NKJV).

When God pushes you out of your comfort zone en route to your destiny, expect to go through some unfamiliar, anxiety-producing territory. It’s the only way to go from surviving – to thriving.