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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Deuteronomy 9:1-17
Moses uses the same terms to describe the strength of Israel’s enemies as the unbelieving men who had caused the hearts of the people to faint (Deuteronomy 1:28). For that strength was real. It was not a question of minimising it, but rather for the people to put their trust in a greater power. The LORD was going to go before them to overthrow and destroy this power of the enemy.
In contrast to the normal criteria of man – quantity or quality – God’s intervention on Israel’s side was not dictated by numbers (Deuteronomy 7:7) nor by the natural good standing of the people (v. 6). "Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness," Moses recalls. Even less than Israel, the child of God has no righteousness of his own of which to speak. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5-7). And so that the people were not tempted to attribute God’s choice to their own personal merits, they are reminded by their leader of the humiliating episode of the golden calf. If we have continually to remember the Lord’s faithfulness (Deuteronomy 8) never let us forget also how weak our hearts are (v. 7; Ezekiel 16:30).
