For My Righteousness

“For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land...” - Deuteronomy 9.4 (-6)

That sounds pretty good to me!  Basically, “I’ve done the right thing and now God is giving me what I deserve!”  Amen!

But that is only part of the verse...

“Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.”

Oh… I see… God is doing this because the people are so wicked, not that I am so good... In fact, the Lord says the same thing a total of THREE TIMES!

“Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

“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.”

The truth is, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him”. (Lamentations 3.22-25)

The only good, or righteousness, or hope we have is in the mercy of God and through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Run with patience... & humility!

Pastor