Stiff-necked

Deuteronomy 9:1-6 Hear, O Israel. You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall-- Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: "Who can stand up against the Anakites?" 3 But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you. 4 After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

God has chosen to use his people to combat evil in this world and, ultimately, evil will be defeated. Systems of oppression and injustice, demonic powers that enslave people to addictions, and the inner chaos and turmoil of broken relationship will one day be overcome by God's shalom. But in the meantime, the church must remember this one very important fact: God is doing this through his people not because they are so good, but because evil is so bad. It's as if God shakes his head and says, "Well, it's not much to work with, but it's all I've got." This keeps us from getting a big head. We are told explicitly three times in these short verses a very simple fact: you are really bad people. You are stubborn, stiff-necked, grumbling, idolatrous people. In a strange sort of way, I find comfort in this rebuke. It reminds me that I am a man of unclean lips who live among a people of unclean lips. I don't come down from my holy hill in all of my righteous glory and condescend to relate to poor, miserable sinners. No, I am among the poor, miserable sinners and God supernaturally works out his plan of salvation through this broken vessel. And so I can sing with the saints: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne!"