STUBBORN AND REBELLIOUS PEOPLE. Deuteronomy 9 God intends us to obey Him with our hearts, meaning we love Him and want to please Him in any way we can. When we obey Him with our free will, we become fully committed to Him. Obeying God with our minds involves using our intellect, which operates on principles and values, in moral, spiritual, and upright ways. This includes bringing every thought into captivity. Our bodies will be obedient when we use our talents and strengths in ways that bring glory to God. Since our bodies have been purchased with the blood of Christ, they should be used accordingly. Finances and all temporal goods will obey when we use our resources to fulfill our responsibility as stewards. Even our future is to be obediently guided as we plan ways of service that will please our Lord.
There are times when we are more aware of God's sovereignty than at other times. We marvel at God's mercy and grace when people are so ungrateful, unrighteous, and sinful. But when we reflect on ourselves, we are led to ask, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him?" God's people are not immune to the influences and temptations of the world. For some reason, there is a tendency to do some of the same things that those "without God, without Christ, and without hope" in the world do. It is never wise for us to look down on others and consider ourselves superior because we have been called by His grace and saved. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."
Israel was soon to enter the land of Canaan that God promised Abraham 400 years earlier. God told the children of Israel that He would drive out the wicked people who lived there before they arrived. His people would be able to defeat the inhabitants of the land because God was with them, not because of their own power and strength. He needed to clarify some things first. The victories were not going to be given by God because they deserved to win, but because of the wickedness of the people living there.
The Israelites were not very nice people either. They took the blessings God gave them daily for granted. They weren't very thankful for what they had been given and complained because they didn't have more. They seemed to think they deserved more than they had and believed God was mostly obligated to give it to them. How often this same attitude appears among us when we are daily blessed with benefits and have more than we need, yet we want more and feel deprived if we don't get everything we covet.
The giant Anakites must have been really intimidating because of their size and strength. The Anakites were not only frightening due to their stature but also because of their bad reputation among neighboring nations. Forty years earlier, the Israelites were so afraid of them that they refused to trust God to help them defeat the giants. Those enormous people seemed to be a major reason for their disobedience and refusal to go in and take possession of their land. Now, here was the next generation of God's people, and the problem still persisted. They were promised victory, not because they earned it, but because those wicked people had to be eliminated.
"Without faith, it is impossible to please Him [God]," is a central truth in our lives today. I often ask myself, "Am I willing to take this action without being certain of the outcome?" Faith is not some obscure idea we merely agree with. It is the key factor in any service to God we might be called to perform. To refuse to proceed in faith when God desires us to is a stubborn act, and that act is sin. Rebelliously resisting God's revealed will is the same kind of sin. "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." We must continually renew the spirit of our minds so that we do not sin against the Lord through either acts of omission or commission.
The conquest of Canaan was both a judgment on the idolatrous people of Canaan and a fulfillment of a promise God made to Abraham and his descendants. It was a gift from God because of His grace, not because the Israelites deserved it. God wanted them to remember His grace and also how vulnerable they were to falling into idolatry. For those who know God, turning away from Him is a greater sin than evil around them because they knew better—they were a chosen people.
The list of unrighteous acts committed by the children of Israel did not escape God's notice, and Moses reminded them of these deeds so they would not become prideful. They had not yet reached a point where they deserved the promised land. God planned to use His power through them to drive out and eliminate the wicked inhabitants living there. While the list of evil acts committed by those Canaanites isn't included here, it is clear that unspeakable wickedness was commonplace, even in their worship of false gods.
Sometimes, the only way to eliminate evil and its lasting influence is to completely destroy those who commit it and pollute others nearby. The sway of immorality, unrighteousness, and false gods can quickly capture people's hearts and minds. Satan can even influence our nation's leaders to pass laws that oppose God's commandments, and they threaten those who oppose their choices with retaliation.
People who are stubborn and want their own way are common in little children, but in adults, it becomes obnoxious behavior that can even lead to conflicts. Stiff-necked individuals refuse to listen to other opinions. Sometimes pride outweighs common sense when they are so stubborn that they won't obey God. Cain was one such person. He indicated, "If God won't take what I want to give Him, I won't give Him anything." Other apostates are mentioned in scripture as those who knew what was right but intentionally turned away because they preferred their own opinions and agendas. Being stiff-necked means deliberately rejecting divine authority.
The result of such an attitude is that those you oppose are provoked, both by your attitude and the behavior that goes with it. That’s bad enough when it causes people to react, but it becomes very serious and has serious consequences when it provokes God's anger. Many people now have the mindset that we should be tolerant of everything people do. They say they "don't want to offend" those who are wayward, provoking, stiff-necked, and unrighteous, for fear "They won't like us." Then they reason that if people don't listen to the Gospel, and "If they don't get saved, it will be our fault because we weren't kind enough." The best kindness we can show those who love and live in sin is to tell them what is right and how to avoid the consequences of sin. If we truly love them as Christ loves, we will not cover their sin but will tell them how they can be forgiven.
Rebellion lies in our children’s hearts because it is passed down through us. In any home, there is a struggle for control between parents and a small, stubborn infant who screeches and yells nonstop in a way the parents cannot match. Who will be in charge— the wise parents who know what is right and wrong, or the little rebel who only knows what he or she wants?
This same rebellious attitude was present in the nation of Israel when they chose to go their own way and do their own thing despite God's commands. They refused to listen to Moses when he relayed God's words. He recounted several instances and ways they had ignored God's instructions and how he interceded for them so they wouldn't all perish immediately. Today, it is within God's people's capacity to willfully dismiss teachings they dislike because they conflict with their own desires and lifestyle choices. Shutting one's ears to God's word and wise guidance from trusted leaders is truly wicked. How strange it is to think that I am right and that everyone who disagrees with me is wrong.
When we rely solely on our own opinions to guide our lives, we risk going against God. Such an attitude and the resulting actions (or inactions) can lead us to lose everything except for God's grace. During times of decision or uncertainty, we must seek God's help and guidance, or our mistakes may have lasting effects that we will regret forever. God used the nation of Israel to fulfill His purpose despite their unrighteous, rebellious, and stubborn attitude. Their blessings did not come because they deserved them, but despite their faults. "It is of God's mercies we are not consumed."
The attitude of unbelief leads to many problems and sins that can cause us shame if we do not confess and turn away from them. Claiming anything from God because we think we deserve it is foolish, arrogant, and sinful. The lesson Moses was emphasizing to the children of Israel as he reflected on their failures was so they would approach the task ahead with humility, faith, and reliance on God. When we recognize where our strength comes from and submit ourselves as tools in the hands of the Master, we can be used by God, and the results can bring blessings despite our failures and shortcomings. At such times, we can better understand the truth that "If God be for us, who can be against us."
He still calls us His people. We remain His inheritance, and it is easy to see His gracious ways when we remember and reflect on our past. Ultimately, we will recognize that God's power has achieved everything of value. He has reached out to us and done for us what we cannot do on our own. This is true in personal life, family, church, and nation. It is dangerous for us to take credit for what God does in us and through us. How wise it is, when there have been clear times of blessing and success, to GIVE GOD ALL THE GLORY, honestly.
“Not for thy righteousness.” Deuteronomy 9:4. We dare not claim rights over what only God can give. It is not within our power to decide that we live. God Himself holds the keys to life and death; He is the Source of life alone, and only He can give us breath. We must not claim that we deserve God’s salvation. If we got what we justly deserved, we would never be forgiven. God Himself allowed us to hear His Word; through His Spirit, we were awakened. He revealed to us through His Holy Word, by Christ's sacrifice, that all our sins have been taken away.
We do not boast that we have been saved by anything we have done. His Son alone performed the work that is acceptable to God. God Himself placed our sins on the Lord Jesus so He could take on all the punishment we deserve, and He did not hold back His only Son but gave Him up for all of us.
We do not dare to claim that any work we do now has merit or that we have earned God’s grace through our efforts after receiving the Lord. God Himself has saved us solely by the blood of Christ—no “after-works” can add to His grace or atone for any sin. We do not dare to say we deserve the blessings of life we receive, because it is only by God’s mercy that we live, move, and breathe. God Himself sustains and preserves us daily, because we have an enemy who seeks to bring us down. We do not dare to claim we deserve to be in heaven when we die. I am grateful for the eternal life promised by God, who cannot lie. God Himself assures us that, through imputed righteousness, we will be in His “promised land"—in the company of the blessed.