Deuteronomy 9:4 –
After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The LORD has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way.
We all tend to think that for some reason we are good people. The Israelites did at this time, yet Moses corrected them and kept the humble. Through the rest of the chapter he focuses on why they did not deserve to go into the Promised Land. This verse is more than just humbling of the people, but it demonstrates God’s love for His people.
The two things that God wants us to learn from this is pride is a bad thing. I notice it gets mentioned often as an emotion that God does not like. The reason being is it takes your attention off God and brings it inward. You start believing that it’s your skills and talents that save you and not grace. Pride is also something the devil uses to put a wedge between you and God. When we become self-absorbed, we stop thanking God. Samson was a great example of how pride took a person away from God. God gave him great strength, but easily took it from him by disobedience caused by pride.
God wants us to know about the pitfalls of pride, but He also wants us to know His love is unconditional. Sure we can be total jerks and God still loves us. We can stray down some pretty rocky paths and when we want to return, God takes us in with open arms. We are forgiven and loved on as the Prodigal Son. The consequences of sin continue many time decades after forgiveness. People tend to think forgiveness means that we are free from consequences. Look at David, he was forgiven for his transgressions, but his family lived with the consequences for generations to follow. God’s love is wonderful and forgiving, just sometime it’s “tough love.”