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Deuteronomy 9 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Today know this: GOD, your God, is crossing the river ahead of you—he’s a consuming fire. He will destroy the nations, he will put them under your power. You will dispossess them and very quickly wipe them out, just as GOD promised you would.
Deuteronomy 9:3 MSG
It’s easy to read this verse and get puffed up. The message is clear. God will go before me and give me victory. He will lead me to wipe out my enemies just as He promised. It will be done because of my faithfulness to Him. Not so fast, my friend! I know I sound like a broken record, but we must study the context of this entire chapter.
But when GOD pushes them out ahead of you, don’t start thinking to yourselves, “It’s because of all the good I’ve done that GOD has brought me in here to dispossess these nations.” Actually it’s because of all the evil these nations have done. 5 No, it’s nothing good that you’ve done, no record for decency that you’ve built up, that got you here; it’s because of the vile wickedness of these nations that GOD, your God, is dispossessing them before you so that he can keep his promised word to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Deuteronomy 9:4-5 MSG
When God created Adam and Eve, everything was fine until they decided they could be self-sufficient. When Saul became king over Israel, he started out well until he decided to take matters into his own hands. The same is true for Samson, Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira. They were tricked by a desire and they acted upon it believing that their decision was better than God’s truth. It was all about them.
True wisdom is revealed when we posture ourselves to be dependent on the Lord in everything. The Israelites didn’t deserve the land they were about to take. Far from it. But, by faith, they believed God when He told them to take it and they walked out that promise by walking into a battle they had no chance of winning. By human standards, their victory was impossible. This is why their dependence on God was so important. They couldn’t do it without Him.
We must remember that when we read about our own victory in Scripture, it is only because Jesus has accomplished that victory. It is nothing we have done and nothing we can earn. The spiritual power given to believers is only possible through Jesus. The ability to resist sin is only available through Jesus. The joy and peace that overwhelm us in the most troubling times can only come from Jesus. We are not self-sufficient. We were created for worship. Depend on Him and walk in the richness of that relationship.