God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble

Deuteronomy 9:1–10:22; 2 Corinthians 3:1–8; Psalm 35:1–11

This morning I thought about God’s goodness in setting me free from the bondage of sin, and then feeling good about myself, that I was now better able to serve Him and to pray. I didn’t realize what was happening to my heart until I read these verses . . .

Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you . . . Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (Deuteronomy 9:4, 6)

No matter that God has done great things for good in me, He still requires obedience. He says to Israel, “Now . . .  what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good.” (Deuteronomy 10:12–13)

Obedience is for my good, not so I can boast or be exalted, but so I can do what He says and be blessed. That blessing is not earned for apart from Him, obedience is impossible. So much for my sinful pride.

The NT reading follows right along with what God says to me in the OT. Paul is writing to the Corinthians and asks, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation . . . you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God . . . . Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit . . . .” (2 Corinthians 3:1–6)

Paul could have justified pride. His ministry to the Corinthians had born fruit. This was marvelous, but he knew that whatever Christians do that is good and a blessing to God and others is because God makes us sufficient. By myself, I can do nothing. Even a little bit of pride is sinful and robs God of His glory. So much for my sinful pride.

Psalm 35 is a petition of David asking God to contend with his enemies that he might rejoice in the Lord. Verse 10 says, “All my bones shall say, ‘O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?’” (Psalm 35:10)

He sees himself in the same category as those who are poor and needy and being robbed, yet David is a wealthy and powerful king, not at all poor and needy. This is a strong example of humility. He had every reason to be proud (I don’t) but was humble (I’m not).

So much for my sinful pride.

Rejoicing in my salvation

Deuteronomy 7:1–8:20; 2 Corinthians 2:12–17; Psalm 34:1–22

When I entered the kingdom of God, He wanted me to deal with all the ungodly things in my life. This is pictured in the life of the Israelites: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.” (Deuteronomy 7:1–2)

It would not happen all at once. Imagine a new Christian being totally holy in an instant. His family and friends might do something drastic. God knows that. He said to the Israelites . . .

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. (Deuteronomy 7:22–24)

The other reason that it takes time is that pride is deeply entrenched, at least mine is. To that, He says . . .

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord . . . Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him . . . Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery . . .  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8: 2–3, 5–6, 11–14, 17–18)

My grandmother used to say, “Too old too soon, too late smart.” After years of God dealing with my pride, I understand the depth of what “little by little” means. I also understand that some people cannot deal with great changes in another person. For them as well as for me, “little by little” is much easier.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:14–16)

God is so good. We celebrate the resurrection today (and every day) and with the psalmist must joyfully say: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!  . . . The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” (Psalm 34:1-8, 22) 

God’s wisdom seen in His commandments

Deuteronomy 5:1–6:25, 2 Corinthians 2:1–11, Psalm 33:1–22

When the Lord brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, He gave them Ten Commandments. Moses repeated these just as they were about to enter their Promised Land. I’m continually learning the importance of each one: 

You shall have no other gods before me. Keep this one, or I cannot keep any of them.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything . . . You shall not bow down to them or serve them . . .  Do not insist on having a god that I can see, putting my ideas of god above the true God, as if I have a better definition.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. God’s name has great power; to use it to curse is bad enough, but using it lightly or without thought also mocks Him.

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy . . . remembering that I was once in slavery to sin and am now resting in the freedom of Christ. Celebrate that every day, but especially keep one day a week free to just love Him.

Honor your father and your mother . . .  this command promises a long and prosperous life without it being diminished in any way because I’ve not honored them. Such honor is not about how good they are but an expression of thanks to God for the life they gave me.

You shall not murder. Value life and trust God for the way others treat me. Imagine the world if this command were obeyed by everyone!

And you shall not commit adultery. Value marriage, mine and the marriages of others.

And you shall not steal . . . which is a brazen declaration that God cannot provide all my needs.

And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Value truth. Truth brings freedom while lies enslave.

And you shall not covet . . . which also brazenly declares that God cannot provide all my needs and that He does not care for me or even know how to care for me. (Deuteronomy 5:6–21)

And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. (Deuteronomy 6:24)

What if I can keep the commands and others do not? The NT reading gives good advice for when this happens (and it will happen): “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2 Corinthians 2:10–11)

Satan uses lack of forgiveness to divide people from each other and from God. It also puts me in the place of God, who alone has the right to have wrath against sin. The Christian life is a spiritual battle. I must not let the enemy take any ground that Christ has already won for me.

As I think about these things, the words of the psalmist bless me. He gives expression to how I feel this day about the goodness of God and the grace of Jesus Christ . . .

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!  . . . Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33: 8–12; 20–22)

From promise to reality

Deuteronomy 4:1–49; 2 Corinthians 1:17–24; Psalm 32:1–11

This Good Friday reading takes me to a great point in the history of God’s people. They have been delivered from Egypt, but refused to enter the Promised Land because they were afraid. Now, after many years of wandering, they are ready to go in. Moses is giving them final instructions. It is a solemn day.

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children . . . . And (God) declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess . . . . For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you . . . . know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” (Deuteronomy 4:9, 13-14, 22-23, 39–40)

Moses warned them about their biggest danger —idolatry. They could not see God, and like every human being, found it difficult to trust something they could not see. Moses also reminded them of the commandments. He didn’t say it, but the first one is the greatest . . .  to love God above all else. If that one is not obeyed, then none of the others can be obeyed.

Loving God above all else means also loving His Son, Jesus Christ. How do I love Jesus? By trusting Him, by believing all that He says and knowing that he is true and reliable. He means what He says, and when He said He would save me, I believe Him.

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 1:19–22)

Just to help me out, because I believe in Jesus, I am sealed. A seal signifies identity. In those days, and even now, a physical seal can be a blob of wax imprinted with a metal stamp that belongs to only one person or institution. Using that seal puts a mark on a document to verify its contents. To be sealed by God means that He puts His stamp on my life. I belong to Him and to guarantee that ownership, and my destiny, He gives me his Holy Spirit.

This is not all that happens. Good Friday is a memorial to the death of Christ for sin. The psalmist looked forward in faith to the One who would deliver him from sin’s guilt and bondage. Now that Christ has died and rose again, I look back in faith to that event. He died for my sin. It is forgiven, not automatically for He requires confession, but it is forgiven.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit . . . . I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah . . . . You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah (Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7)

Forgiveness is an amazing blessing indeed. God took the burden of guilt from my life and gives me Himself. I can depend on Him to take care of me.

All of this is made possible because He was willing to take my guilt and die for it. Yes, this Friday is a very solemn day too, but Sunday is just ahead!

Theological adventures?

Deuteronomy 2:1–3:29; 2 Corinthians 1:12–16; Psalm 31:10–24

Many of the people, events, and institutions in the Old Testament are models or pre-representations of people, events, and institutions in the New Testament. The study of this is called typology, but it gained a bad reputation from people whose imagination exceeded good scholarship.

For instance, some say that Abraham taking Isaac up on a mountain foreshadows Christ in some way. That may be true, but the wood that they carried does not represent the Cross Jesus carried, nor is Isaac a type of Christ (Isaac lived, Christ died). If there is a type in the story, it is the ram that did die as a sacrifice in Isaac’s place.

I can understand the wild and crazy ideas that have come out of typology though. Look at it this way; if you are thinking about buying a red car, you will soon start seeing red cars everywhere. If a Bible student is thinking about Jesus and the NT stories, pretty soon everything that student reads in the OT will remind him of something in the NT. Being reminded of Jesus is a good thing, but that does not make the red car parked in Abraham’s tent the same as the red car that carried Herod into Jerusalem. They just happened to be both the same color.

That said, I had one of those non-typology thoughts today. Take this with a grain of salt . . . Moses has the people at the edge of the promised land. God tells him about the enemies before them. He says, “ . . . Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.” (Deuteronomy 2:23–25)

God then said this to Moses, “And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you’ . . . (now Moses), Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’” (Deuteronomy 3: 21–22, 27–28)

Moses could not go in. Instead, Joshua would take over. Now these are my thoughts. Moses represents to my mind the Law of God. He led the people out of bondage in Egypt, and then was allowed to lead them through the wilderness and to the edge of new life. But he was not allowed to bring them into their new life. Joshua would do that.

When God led me out of my old life and brought me to new life in the kingdom of God, I was to live by grace, not by law. Law could not take me in or keep me there. Like the people in the OT were led by Joshua, I also had a new leader. His name? Joshua — which in Greek means “Jesus.”

This is not proper typology, but it still makes me smile. Some might say, “Good sermon, wrong text.”

It delights me that these lovely thoughts also connect in a small way with the other two readings. The NT one says, “For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.” (2 Corinthians 1:12)

If I lived by Law and actually kept it, I could boast. But I do not and cannot. Instead, I live by grace. I can still boast like Paul did in that verse, but not in me. Joshua led me to freedom and Joshua keeps me there. My boast is in the grace of God.

Because of Jesus, I also can say with the psalmist, “Love God, all you saints; God takes care of all who stay close to him, But he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone. Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up. Expect God to get here soon.” (Psalm 31:23–24)

My seminary professors might slap my wrist over this, but I could claim a new category, not typology, but something like symbol + reminder = Praise for Jesus. I’m sure there are many acceptable words for that!

Moving along to a broader place

Deuteronomy 1:1–46; 2 Corinthians 1:1–11; Psalm 31:1–9

Yesterday and today were a battle days. One battle was for my attention. It did not stop until I shook my fist at my spiritual enemies, and told them in the name of Christ to leave me alone. After that, I was able to concentrate.

The second battle was similar, but seemed less from the enemy and more about my difficulties with details. The task on both days is a mid-term assignment. I am doing overviews of twenty Scripture passages. I am not good with big picture assignments so every few minutes I wanted to get up and go clean toilets, or do anything else but stick to the task at hand.

I’ve struggled all my life with focus and my usual solution is to go do something else for awhile, but this time the Lord spoke to me with the first few verses in the above OT reading . . . “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain . . . . See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.” (Deuteronomy 1:8)

I am not Israel or Moses, but the Lord used His words to those people to tell me that He has had enough of my excuses and wandering about. He gave me this opportunity, this incredible challenge to my old brain, and told me to get at it and stick with it. This didn’t make the work any easier, but it did help me to keep my butt in the chair.

The next part of the reading was also helpful. Moses talked to the people of Israel and reminded them of their history. He told them about going to the edge of the Promised Land forty years prior . . .

The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 1:23–26)

I didn’t want to think about the many times I’d given in to my wandering attention span instead of persevering, but have to admit that in this particular issue, I’ve wound up like them — wandering around and never getting anywhere because for years I’ve refused God’s invitation to stick to it. Now He insists I push through the distractions and reshape the way my mind works.

Then He had me read the NT passage to get another reminder . . .  How many times have I asked God why this was happening, or why I struggled with that, or with something? How often have I’ve hated affliction instead of seeing purpose in it? This time, through Paul, God says . . .

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:6–7)

Some of what happens to Christians is for the sake of others. We experience loss, sorrow, illness and a host of other not-so-nice experiences, not because we are being punished, etc. but because it gives us reason to trust God, and in that trusting, we experience His comfort. When that happens, we have something wonderful to share with others who are struggling over the same experiences. I can help some people simple because I’ve ‘been there, done that.’

Yet not all of those experiences are entirely for the sake of others. Some of them happen to teach me to rely on God as I already mentioned. Paul said, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:9–10)

God knows that if I never had any trials, I would not learn how to trust Him. I’d simply trust myself. But that does not work. Today, “myself” let me down. “Myself” wanted to run away from home not work on a mid-term paper for most of the day. The paper is not finished, not even close, so I’m thinking that I will likely be fighting with “myself” tomorrow too.

However, I’ve already had a hint of what perseverance, with prayer, can do. Renewed energy and zeal comes because of God’s grace. I will continue, and press on with this assignment. And like the psalmist, “I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.” (Psalm 31:7–8)