Deuteronomy 9:1-10: a reflection

1Hear, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky, 2a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” 3Know therefore today that the LORD your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and he will bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has spoken to you. 4Don’t say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out from before you, “For my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land;” because the LORD drives them out before you because of the wickedness of these nations. 5Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6Know therefore that the LORD your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. 8Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was angry with you to destroy you. 9When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10The LORD delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which the LORD spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.

As Israel prepares to enter the promised land and dispossess nations greater than themselves, Moses guards them against a dangerous misunderstanding. Do not say in your heart, after the LORD has driven them out, It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land. Not because of your righteousness, Moses insists, do you go in, but because of the wickedness of these nations, and to keep the promise God made to your fathers. And he adds a blunt reminder: Know that the LORD is not giving you this land because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Notice how carefully Moses guards against pride. The people were about to receive an immense blessing, and the temptation would be to conclude that they had earned it, that their righteousness had merited God's favor. Moses cuts that off firmly: it is not your righteousness; it is God's grace and God's promise. And he reminds them, lest they forget, that they had in fact been rebellious and stiff-necked. The blessing was grace, not reward.

That is a needed guard for us, too, against a subtle pride. When God blesses us, the temptation is to think we have earned it, that our goodness has merited his favor. Moses' words apply to us: it is not because of our righteousness. God's blessings are grace, given not because we deserve them but because he is gracious and faithful to his promises. Do not take credit for what is grace. When God blesses you, remember that you did not earn it; his favor rests on his grace and his faithfulness, not on your righteousness. Receive his blessings with humility and gratitude, not with the pride that imagines you have deserved them.

Lord, Moses warned Israel not to say in their hearts that they possessed the land because of their own righteousness, reminding them that it was your grace and your promise, not their merit, and that they were a stiff-necked people. Guard me from the same pride. When you bless me, keep me from concluding that I have earned it, that my goodness has merited your favor. Your blessings are grace, given not because I deserve them but because you are gracious and faithful to your promises. Help me not to take credit for what is grace. Let me receive all your goodness with humility and gratitude, knowing I did not earn it, and that your favor rests on your grace, not on my righteousness.