Does God Help You When You Are Impossible To Deal With?
Listen, Israel, you're about to cross the Jordan River. You'll be forcing out nations that are larger and stronger than you, with big cities that have sky-high walls. Their people are tall and strong. They're descendants of Anak. You know all about them. You've also heard it said, “Who can oppose the descendants of Anak?” Realize today that the LORD your God is the one who is going ahead of you like a raging fire. . . . . .and will use you to crush their power . . . .
When the LORD your God expels these people in front of you, don't say to yourselves, “Because we've been living right, the LORD brought us here to take possession of this land.” No, it's because these nations are so wicked that the LORD is forcing them out of your way and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
. . . . . So understand this: It's not because you've been living right that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess. You are impossible to deal with! Deuteronomy 9:1-6 (GW)
Pastor’s Blog
“Stubborn”, “stubborn as a mule”, “stiff necked”, “impossible to deal with” are all God’s assessment of His children. Maybe you have children like that, but you love them anyway. Truth be told there’s a stubborn, stiff necked streak in each of us, be it “in your face” or passive-aggressive, either way there exists in every one of us natural antipathy toward submission to God. This leaves God with no one to work through except people who “are impossible to deal with”!
In today’s passage Moses tells Israel to
1. Destroy the inhabitants of Canaan.
2. That God will pave the way ahead of them
3. That this destruction is the result of the inhabitant’s evil, not because of
Israel’s righteousness
God chose to eradicate the sinful people of Canaan through the sinful people of Israel. Obviously God helps stubborn people. But just as obviously, God hates and sin and evil.
This shows God’s faithfulness to the covenant he made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob, and God’s keeping his promise to give them a land to inhabit.
It’s all about God blessing and being faithful to people to who don’t deserve it. . . .. . . . people strikingly similar to you and to me.
(to post your thoughts, anonymously if you wish, simply click on “comments” below)
This passage had meaning to me in a different way. I felt touched by this message with where my nephew's health is concerned. His battle with cancer and the current pancreatitis and needing to be put on life support while his body is stabilized just yesterday. We have faith that God will pull him through all of the evils that are fighting against him, and it is not because Eli has been a good person, at the age of 9, and certainly not that his parents have been good people, it is because God knows that these things are too evil to be allowed to 'live' and Eli, his parents, and entire family will give thanks and praise to God when he survives these terrible things.
ReplyDeleteSincerely, Leslie Hernandez
"When the LORD your God expels these people in front of you, don't say to yourselves, “Because we've been living right, the LORD brought us here to take possession of this land.” No, it's because these nations are so wicked that the LORD is forcing them out of your way and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
ReplyDeleteWow! When I read this, one of my thoughts came flooding to the front rather quickly. NO ROOM FOR PRIDE! Not one could boast in what God was going to deliver.
No misunderstanding what God meant here! And I am sure God had all the evidence He needed to make such a statement.
And now as I re-read this, another thought comes right behind the first. No room for pride CREATES A HUGE SPACE FOR GRACE.
And the more I get to know Him, I see no beginning nor end to His Grace towards those who are willing follow Him.
Ok, let's get back to the "kill them all" command. Our gracious, loving God tells His people to kill the non-believers, those who worship false gods instead of the one true God. I get that this is a mighty proclamation to keep the Jewish people "pure" and one that lets us all know that God won't stand for competition with false gods.
ReplyDeleteBUT ... isn't this what the Karan preaches? Kill the non-believers and leave the planet pure for Allah? When talking to non-Christians and this comes up (and it DOES come up on occasion), how should we answer their protestations that there's no difference. Both writings tell their followers to kill ALL the non-believers.
I've tried to explain the love of Jesus but if God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow then how do we account for the kill-them-all vs. God is love & is our Abba on whose lap we can climb, curl up, and be safe?