Deuteronomy 9:6 "Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people."
In order to properly understand this writing, I want to remind us that the land
of Canaan, the Promised Land, does not represent the eternal heaven where God's
people will go when we pass from this life. We can know that is true because
they had many battles to fight and many enemies to overcome once they entered
the land. I can assure you there will be no enemies and no battles in the
eternal heaven. But as blood bought, Spirit born children of God, we do have
enemies and battles and struggles to endure as we go through this life. The
land of Canaan is representative of the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) which
can be experienced and enjoyed here in this life before we ever reach the
eternal heaven. What consists of the kingdom of heaven? Let's use the
definition from the Word of God. "For the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
(Romans 14:17) The kingdom of heaven is not experienced because we eat
the right things and drink the right things, though that is good health
practice. The kingdom of heaven is experienced through the understanding that
all of our righteousness is found ONLY in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This writing may not be a favorite among everyone. We sometimes want to
try to take some sort of credit when we are blessed of God. By that, I mean we
sometimes want to think, "Well, I did the right thing. I helped someone
else. I did not do the wrong thing. I read my Bible. I prayed several times
today. I did this and I did that." And because of what we did, we expect
to receive peace and joy from the Lord. We all will quickly agree that
our home in heaven is secured purely and simply by the grace of God. Won't
we? Can we also understand that when you and I do the right things in
life, as we should, it is the direct result of God's grace upon our lives?
In the first five verses of chapter 9, God is having the people to understand
He was not giving them the land because of their righteousness. He was not
giving them the land because they were in the right place at the right time. He
was not giving them the land because they followed every command He had given
them. He was not giving them the land because they had a good positive attitude
about everything that came their way in life. He was not even giving them the
land because they were stronger and more in number. In fact, He was giving them
the land in spite of who and what they were and had done in the past forty
years.
God spoke to them as they entered the land, "Understand therefore this
day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming
fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so
shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly." (Deuteronomy 9:3). They were to understand that every victory they enjoyed in the new land
was the direct result of the Lord fighting their battles for them. They were to
drive out the enemy, but it was on the basis of the power of God and not their
own.
You and I have many struggles in life. Most of them are from within our own
selves. I will quote the wise Pogo (some of you will remember him), "I
have met the enemy and he is us." The only way to drive out the
enemy from within is through the power of the Holy Spirit of God and the
righteousness of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Let us lean heavily
upon Him - His power and His righteousness and His goodness toward us.