The First Step
There are many ways to handle an overwhelming task. We may keep putting it off, hoping that God will miraculously take care of it for us. Or we can take the first step in the right direction.
After 40 years in the wilderness, Moses was told that it was time for the people to take possession of the land God had promised them. The first order of business was to decide what to do about a king named Sihon who stood between the Israelites and the land of Canaan. God
=s command was, ABegin to possess it, and engage him in battle.@ (Deuteronomy 2:24) God certainly could have eliminated Sihon without anyone=s help, but He commanded His people to take the first step.The same is often true with us. Difficult circumstances or broken relationships seem to defy solution. When they persist for months or years, we may feel that nothing we do will make a difference. But the LORD says,
ABegin.@We must make the first move - speak a kind word, ask forgiveness, pay some of what we owe. We must be the initiators.
Nothing can be accomplished until we take the first step.
Our Daily Bread
March 2, 2000