Read Deuteronomy 7, Isaiah 66, and 1 Corinthians 6.
This devotional is about Deuteronomy 7.
God’s commands in this chapter were clear. Israel was to defeat the nations that currently lived in the promised land of Canaan (vv. 1-2). “Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy,” the Lord said at the end of verse 2.
This is a difficult text to read. God commands the utter destruction of entire nations, the massive slaughter of human lives. Other passages of scripture tell us that God commanded this as an act of judgment for the sins of these Canaanites. Some of those sins are alluded to here when God said, in verse 5b, “Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.” And, later in verse 10, he said, “…those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.” Although the Canaanites were supposed to lose their lives, it was not an innocent loss of life. Like all unbelievers, and all of us, they chose to hate God and worship other things. God’s command to Israel to kill these people, then, was an act of justice.
Whenever God announces his judgment on some people, as he did here, or promises his favor on others, it may seem and feel like favoritism. The hearts of those whom God has blessed may swell with pride and even feel entitled to the blessing God has promised.
But that is a sinful response, as sinful as the sin of idolatry. That’s why God was quick to say, “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you…” (vv. 7-8). In other words, God did not choose Israel because of any value or merit Israel had. He chose them because he chose to love them (v. 8). It was an act of pure grace, something Israel didn’t deserve.
So there was no place and no reason for Israel to feel proud about what God was doing for them. God chose to love and favor Israel because he is a loving and gracious God, not because Israel deserved his love.
The same is true for us. You and I were not saved from our sins because God knew we’d be great Christians. We certainly weren’t saved because we were less sinful than others.
No, we were saved by God’s choice to love us. That’s it.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that you did not–and do not–deserve God’s love and mercy but that God was merciful to you because he simply decided to love you?
If you believe that, then there is no reason to look down on sinners who are outside of God’s love and under his judgment. You and I deserve to be outside of God’s love and under his judgment, too. We deserve to be judged by God as or more harshly than he judged the nations of Canaan.
Are you proud of being a Christian because you think it says something about you? Are you thankful for what you have in Christ or do you feel entitled to it? Search your heart and remember that none of us deserved God’s mercy in salvation but that he saved us because that’s who he is–a loving and merciful God. Then give thanks to the Lord for the salvation you have in Christ.