It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you…but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers…
– Deuteronomy 7:7-8
When we look at how God rescued the Hebrews out of the hands of the Egyptians, it can be tempting to think that the Hebrews had something the Egyptians didn’t. Maybe they were more holy. Maybe they were nicer.
But the reality is much more unbelievable. God didn’t choose the Hebrews over the Egyptians because of something He saw in the people themselves. God chose the Hebrews over the Egyptians because He had decided to love them and had promised—400 years earlier—to save them.
When Moses was delivering his farewell sermon to the Hebrews he told them, explicitly, that God had rescued them because God loved them. And God kept his oath of promise because of that great love.
We can be tempted to think of ourselves like the Hebrews. Because we love God now and we desire to please Him, we might think God knew we’d make a good Christian because He saw our future self.
But, that is decidedly not the case. God didn’t look at what we might become and pluck us out of the sea of sinners. Instead, God plucked us out of the sea of sinners because of His love. He saved us and molded us into Christ-followers for His own sake. And we ought to always remember that truth as we shine His light into the world.
Why God Loves
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you…but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers…
– Deuteronomy 7:7-8
When we look at how God rescued the Hebrews out of the hands of the Egyptians, it can be tempting to think that the Hebrews had something the Egyptians didn’t. Maybe they were more holy. Maybe they were nicer.
But the reality is much more unbelievable. God didn’t choose the Hebrews over the Egyptians because of something He saw in the people themselves. God chose the Hebrews over the Egyptians because He had decided to love them and had promised—400 years earlier—to save them.
When Moses was delivering his farewell sermon to the Hebrews he told them, explicitly, that God had rescued them because God loved them. And God kept his oath of promise because of that great love.
We can be tempted to think of ourselves like the Hebrews. Because we love God now and we desire to please Him, we might think God knew we’d make a good Christian because He saw our future self.
But, that is decidedly not the case. God didn’t look at what we might become and pluck us out of the sea of sinners. Instead, God plucked us out of the sea of sinners because of His love. He saved us and molded us into Christ-followers for His own sake. And we ought to always remember that truth as we shine His light into the world.