Gracious Despite It All

Deuteronomy 9-10:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut%209-10&version=NIV

            I have two quick thoughts on Deuteronomy 9-10.  First, in case Israel missed it, Moses reminds them several times that the Lord is not giving them the land because of their righteousness.  (He says it like three or four times.)  Then, to drive the point home, he goes through the list of times that the Lord was so angry He thought about starting over—the golden calf and the first refusal to take the land figure prominently.

            The application is pretty obvious:  in case we missed it, the Lord did not save us because of our righteousness, either.  The Small Catechism says that all of this is ‘without any merit or worthiness’ in us (explanation of the 1^st Article of the Creed).  Nope, we done’ deserve any of it.  That is grace—a love that embraces even the unlovable, God’s love seeking the lost, even as they are in the process of running away.  “While we were still sinners,” Paul reminds us (Rom. 5), “Christ died for us.”

            The second thought is about the character of Israel’s (and our!) God.  In the midst of all the talk about God’s anger, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that the Lord shows no partiality, that He defends the cause of the defenseless, that He loves even the foreigner.  He establishes and disciplines Israel for the purpose of bringing His salvation into the world, a salvation He gives freely to Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 1).  His Law always functions in service to His Gospel.