9:6-7 | d e u t e r o n o m y

posted in: Devotional | 0

6-7: “Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people. 7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord.”

Main Point: We do not earn the blessings of God from our righteousness, we are rebellious people and we ought to remember that.

Before this, something that Moses told the people not to forget was the fact that God had been so good and powerful in the past. THey were to remember Him setting them free from Egypt and all the battles He won for them in the wilderness as they took this next step in their nation’s history. Now, Moses gives them another thing to remember, their past sinfulness. This seems like a strange thing for Him to tell them to keep in mind. I tend to think we ought to forget about our old self and even when our new self acts like our old self, we should not dwell on those things. However, doing so accomplishes us knowing that it was not because of our righteousness that God saved or blessed us, because our righteousness was rebellion, but it was simply because of the goodness and grace of God. That is what we should always remember by keeping in mind the ways we have been against God.

I need to remember this. Too often I shove my sin under the rug and deceive myself into thinking I have become such a wonderful person. I begin to think that I deserve the blessings of God because of my faithfulness to Him and my service and love for others. However, while my past does not define me anymore, I should never forget where I came from and the weaknesses I still have every day. I must see myself as weak and in need of the Savior. I should remember my rebellion against God as it took place in the past and continues to battle throughout my present life. I am so incredibly underserving of God’s grace, salvation, and blessings, but He gives them because He is good. My God is good, not I. His righteousness merits His blessings, not mine. He is the one. Glory to Him.

This shows me how the gospel is none of my own doing. I am sinful and cannot earn God’s favor with my filthy rag righteousness. He saved me, I didn’t save myself. He keeps me, I don’t keep myself. He blesses me out of grace, not because I earned it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *