A deeper look at Deuteronomy 9:4 and it might begin to look scary. "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." Deut 9:4 (NIV). That was Moses warning the Israelites not to think they could possess the promised land because of their righteousness. He told the Israelites in verse 6 that they were in fact a stiff-necked people.
This implies that miracles don't mean a right standing with God. God would help Israel conquer the promised land and its not because Israel was righteous - as a matter of fact, the israelites wwere obstinate. The amount of miracles aman performs does not tell how righteous he is.
After Peter and John had just healed the cripple at the beautiful gate in Acts 3, Peter asked the surprised on-lookers "why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" (Acts 3:12). So the man got healed and it wasn't because of Peter or John's righteousness.
My point? Miracles don't mean a right standing with God
ODB: The Messenger
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“I have a message for you!” A woman working at the conference I was
attending handed me a piece of paper, and I wondered if I should be nervous
or excited....
5 years ago
2 comments:
the whole "i'm being rewarded from God because I was nice yesterday" answer always really bugged me.
Israel mistook their blessings as favortism and though we still struggle with this, we don't get it right on the other end either. We are quick to give credit to ourselves and our fellow man for much of this godliness and in the same breathe blame God for our pain and mistake it as punishment.
I really enjoy your blog. please continue sharing with us.
always praying,
-Dominic
God's people sometimes have a hard time giving the Glory only to God. I enjoyed your blog. God bless, Lloyd
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