Who Do You Think You Are?
Deuteronomy 9:4-29
Verses 4-6 of part 3 of parashah 46 sort of puts us in our respective places, so to speak. Moshe reminds us thusly:
“Don’t think to yourself, after your God has pushed them out ahead of you (speaking of the nations occupying the land of promise), it is to reward my righteousness that Yahovah has brought me in to take possession of this land. No, it is because these nations have been so wicked that Yahovah is driving them out ahead of you. It is not because of your righteousness or because your heart is so upright that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that Yahovah your Elohim is driving them out ahead of you and also to confirm the word which Yahovah swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov. Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness that Yahovah your Elohim is giving you this good land to possess…”
Bottom line friends: it’s never been about us–it’s always been about Him. We benefit from the purpose and will of Yahovah in the earth. Our obedience affords us the opportunity to serve and live fruitful, productive and blessed lives. Those nations that Yahovah moved out of our way as we took possession of the land were moved because of their wickedness and because it served the perfect will of Father. We need to get over ourselves and stop thinking that we are so deserving and that we’ve arrived. Verse 6 slams reality in our faces as Yahovah reminds us that we are a “stiffnecked people” who gave Yahovah through Moshe no end to frustration and misery all these 40-years.
The ensuing verses rehearse our history in the desert and how we transgressed Yahovah’s commands and the covenant that He made with us. Oh how quickly we “forgot” Abba and His commands. So disappointing were we to Abba that He threatened to destroy us and start all over with Moshe as recorded in Exodus 32:9, 10. It was Moshe’s intercession on our behalf (a precursor to Y’shua Messiah who intercedes on our behalf before the throne of Yahovah) that saved us from certain doom. And this rebellion and disobedience repeated itself over again and again. Each transgression Moshe interceded on our behalf and Father’s wrath was abated.
Who are we to think that we’ve arrived. Who are we to entertain that we are beyond reproach. I know for myself, that this scenario has played out in my life countless times. I can only fall down on my face and ask Yahovah for forgiveness and not repeat the mistakes again. Yet it was only by the grace and patience and mercy of the Father that I am still here today. It is only through the intercessions on my behalf by Y’shua HaMashiyach that I can call upon the name of Yahovah today and that I seek to do His will and obey and keep His Torah. Otherwise, I could have very easily been left off to the side to fend for myself and reap that which I’ve sown. We must constantly be cognizant of our position in this spiritual equation. It is only when we understand who we are and understand our position in this spiritual equation, then we are truly blessed. Y’shua, in the well-known Beatitudes, so poignantly laid it out to us:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mat. 5:3)
Many believe this to be referring to individuals who are the rejected and poor in our society; the homeless; the dejected; the simple minded of us who seem to never have been afforded a chance in this life. Indeed, this could be the case to some degree. But I submit to you that Y’shua Messiah was primarily speaking to a state of being or even a state of mind and understanding. He was speaking to us having that mindset of knowing from whence we’ve come and of that which we are capable of doing–that is, prone to evil and sin and it is only by the mercies of Father that we still exist in His presence. When we grasp this reality and understand what and who we are, and that we in no way deserving of Yahovah’s good graces, then we are truly happy (i.e., blessed). Oh, it’s not about being in a perpetual state of depression and “woe is me” in response to our sinful nature. Not at all. It’s about being of a mindset that is always seeking and longing for His (i.e., Yahovah’s) gentle touch and mercy; always being on guard of our propensity to transgress Torah and offend Yahovah; always aware that–as the Brother of our Lord and Savior so aptly wrote: “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17). Thank you Father for your grace and gentle mercies this day for you are our God and our Father–beautiful in every divine perfection. Loving us in spite of ourselves, yet your justice prevails through the dispensation of your Torah and through the work of your Son and our older brother Y’shua HaMashiyach.
Thus our Torah Living Daily Challenge today is to always keep in the back of our mind from whence we’ve come. We’ve not arrived. Yes, we have the awesome potential to become Yah’s Kings/Queens and Priests in the earth as we have been redeemed by the blood of Mishiyach; as we conform to the image and example of Mishiyach in the midst of a perverted world; and as we accomplish Yahovah’s perfect will for our lives through the agency of Ruach HaKodesh. So when we come upon that all too familiar feeling that swells up within us of pride and self-aggrandizement because Yah has used us in some way or another, that we step back and examine the bigger picture; ask ourselves, why has Yahovah used me and how may I be of greater assistance to Him and the Kingdom. That we remember from whence we’ve come and how far we must go. How thus by the grace of Yahovah that we could be destitute and without hope like so many millions of people in the earth. That simple reality should prompt us to do whatever we can–using whatever available time we have in the day–to make ourselves available to Yahovah to do the work of the Kingdom. Shalom.