Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven
I learned to ski when I was nine years old. There is nothing in the world like skiing, especially in the mountains in the American West. It is a singular experience. Growing up, I was the best skier I knew. Was I a great skier? No, I was just the best one I knew. Why? It was because I didn’t know any skiers. I skied with different people and some of them were pretty good, but they were people who were not skiers. Texans and Tennesseans didn’t grow up skiing big mountains, so my perception of my skill was purely comparative. It was compared to others I saw.
To whom do you compare yourself? Sometimes we think we are really poor or really great because we are comparing ourselves to other people in a very small pond. I have heard little girls ask, “Mommy, am I pretty?” They are trying to get a bead on where they stand in comparison to other people in their world. When I was a child, we traveled a lot, and a lot of people came to the Bill Rice Ranch. Wherever we went, everyone seemed to know us. I remember wondering if we were famous. I knew we weren’t famous the way people on television are, but I knew everyone knew us. I was trying to get a bead on if we were famous. We can think we are really big because we compare ourselves to people who are even smaller than we are.
Deuteronomy 9 comes down the elements of perspective and comparison, mainly Israel’s perspective. What was Israel as to might, especially in comparison to people around them? Deuteronomy 9:1 says, “Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself.” God said, “You are going to cross this Jordan and take this land and it is not because you are powerful. In comparison to the nations you will displace, you are not as powerful.”
What about virtue? Was Israel a virtuous nation? Well, it depends. Compared to the nations they displaced they were, but compared to God they were not. Were the nations they were going to fight mighty? Compared to Israel they were, but compared to God they were not. The one to whom you compare yourself really tells you a lot about how you gauge success.
God basically says in verses 4-5, “Don’t think I am bringing you into this land because you are virtuous. I’m bringing you into this land because the inhabitants are wicked. I’ve given them a chance and they have rebelled.” Verses 7-24 culminate saying, “Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.” From start to finish Israel had been rebellious against human authority, God’s authority, and His provision. They had been unthankful and unhappy because they were rebellious.
What about you? Are you successful and how do you gauge that? Are you gauging your might and virtue compared to others? Or are you figuring a transcendent God into your life and does He decide what success is for you? You are never going to succeed until your Creator sets your standard of success. In Deuteronomy 10:12, Moses asks, “What doth the LORD thy God require of thee?” What is success? What does God require? Moses continues, “To fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD.” So, God requires fear, following, love, and service with your whole heart. It is not some of your life; it is your whole life.
It is obedience. Sometimes we separate love of God from obedience to God. No, it is all one package. It is realizing that there is but one God. Deuteronomy 10:14 says He is the God of “the heaven and the heaven of heavens…the earth also, with all that therein is.” God is the only God.
Then verse 15 says that God chose them, “Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.” He didn’t do that because of their might; they weren’t mighty. He didn’t do it because of their virtue; they weren’t virtuous. He did that because He had a plan to take a nation through whom He would send His Son, the Savior, to pay for the sins of every one of every nation, tongue, tribe, background, and religion. There is one God and He loves people enough to make a way for sinful people to be at peace with a Holy God.
So, you know God, but are spinning your wheels trying to be better, more powerful, more successful, more attractive than others. Moses says that your life will never be a success until you let God set the standard of what success is in your life. In verse 16 he basically says, “You need to set yourselves apart and not be hard-hearted before God because He is a God of gods, the Lord of lords, a great God who is mighty and terrible and regards not persons nor takes rewards.” God is going to do right, and no one is going to bribe Him to do the wrong thing.
Then verse 19 says, “Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Verse 18 says, “He [God] doth executes the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” The bottom line is to treat others as God has treated you. In verse 18 we find what He does. Moses tells them, “God executes judgments, looks out for the fatherless, widows, and strangers. You should too, not because of what you are in comparison to some orphan, stranger, or widow, but because of where you are in comparison to God. And God brought you out of Egypt.” This is a point God makes over and again. God brought them out of Egypt and took care of them when they were strangers, not because of how they compared, but because of where they were in relationship to God. You are never going to succeed until your Creator sets the standard, not your peers, heroes, or background.
When it comes to fear, whom do you fear? If you compare yourself to obstacles between you and doing what is right, then you are never going to do the right thing because that is the wrong standard. God is your standard. God says in Deuteronomy 9:3, “Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee.” God is the one who has power. He is going to take care of you. Don’t fear, but follow. In Deuteronomy 10:21 Moses says, “He [God] is your praise, and he is thy God, and hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.” You are not mighty. You are inferior to the nations you are displacing, but God is mighty. He is mightier than you and mightier than the Canaanites.
What about generosity? If I am comparing my generosity to that of someone else, I may think, “I give more.” That is the wrong emphasis. God says, “God took care of you. You take care of others.” There is a huge difference in life between judging your success by looking at those around you and judging your success by saying, “Am I being the person God created me to be? Am I living in fear of God, loving God, serving God, and obeying God? You can succeed in life, but you will never succeed until your Creator sets your standard.