Do Not Say In Your Heart

            The human heart is a constant subject in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ last attempt to reach a “rebellious and stubborn” people (Deut. 31:27) before his death on Mount Nebo. This speech was delivered to the grown children of the Israelites who came out of Egyptian slavery forty years before. Moses’ last words proved to a new generation that the divine law given at Mt. Sinai wasn’t merely about conforming to outward regulations for worship and lifestyle. God was primarily interested in capturing the inward man. During the course of his speech, Moses instructed them on several occasions to love the Lord with “all [their] heart” and to teach their children to do the same (Deut. 6.4-9, 10.12, 11.13, 13.3, 26.16, 30.46). This all-encompassing command, while it appears formidable, actually mirrors the Israel-centered heart of God Himself. “The Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day” (Deut. 10.15).

Alongside guidance about how to fill their hearts with God, Moses also taught the people what to keep out of their innermost thoughts. In Deuteronomy 9.4, he bluntly commanded: “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them [the Canaanites] out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land…” He went on to clarify that the expulsion of the original inhabitants was due to their wickedness and because God made clear promises to Abraham and his sons. On the contrary, the Israelites themselves were unworthy of their inheritance – “for you are a stubborn people” (9.6) – but received it due to their patient Lord’s generosity.

Strikingly, the same instruction that the Israelites received is echoed in the New Testament to Christians. When the apostle Paul wrote to Titus, a young preacher working amongst a wicked population on the island of Crete, he reminded him of why Jesus rescued us from our spiritual slavery. God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3.4-6). Christians are given access to an extraordinary inheritance, but not because of superior morals, intellect, or spirit; we’re saved because our Savior delights in bestowing blessings on undeserving sinners.

God provides His people with marvelous blessings, the full extent of which we will only comprehend after we reach glory. Although we should revel in our blessings and enjoy them to their fullest extent, we should also remember the temptation Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy. Do not speak arrogant delusions in your heart.

Nathan