"After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, 'The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you."
Deuteronomy 9:4 NIV
Do you ever start to think you deserve the blessings you get? I hope not because that's a dangerous thought! The right way to think about our blessings is that God blesses us because of who he is rather than because of what we've done. He is the God of love and grace and mercy and blessings. Everything flows from him for his glory. Without a doubt, we do benefit from his blessings and that's part of why he does it. But it has nothing to do with deserving it.
The Hebrew people had been in Egyptian bondage for 400 years. They have fled the country and were now free but because the lacked faith they wandered in the desert for 40 years before entering the land God had promised to give them. That promise was first announced to Abraham over 500 years earlier. God keeps his promises and was ready to give the land to the Hebrews.
The leader of the Hebrews for the last 40 years had been Moses. Just prior to Moses' death, he spoke to the people. He wanted to remind them of God's promises and commands. And Moses warns them not to take credit for what was about to happen. The Hebrews possessed the Promised Land in a miraculous wave of victories over the land's current inhabitants. They didn't have to earn the land, God gave it to them.
The warning from Moses ought to ring in our ears, too. What the Lord does for us flows from who he is and accomplishes his plans. Every victory you experience over evil is not because you are so righteous - and you may be - but because evil is so evil and God provides the victory. Pray that God will provide the victory and you will give him the glory.
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