Deuteronomy 9: 4-6
After the Lord 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.
It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going 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.
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 is making very clear to these Hebrews that God is not doing this for them because they deserve it, because they don't; they are a "stiff-necked people." But they are not wicked like the people who live there.
God wanted them to eradicate those societies that practiced all kinds of disgusting and dangerous rites in worshipping their idols. He didn't want them to learn to do any of these horrible practices.
Because He loves His people, He wants them to live their lives to be healthy in every way, and prosperous in every way. That's why He gave them His Law.
We have the record of what happened when they followed the Lord and when they didn't.
We also are "stiff-necked" in our thinking and our lifestyles, we don't deserve God's blessings, either. But God decided to love us, anyway, so He gave us His Word to learn about Him and His ways. And He gave us His own Son to be that Sacrifice that fulfills and completes all the sacrifices listed in the Old Covenant. So we don't slay animals on a stone altar any more.
But we are still vulnerable to the thinking processes of those pagan peoples. We just express them in a different way today. Instead of taking a knife and bleeding out an animal, we send women to a "doctor" to take the life of an innocent child even before they can be born. These are no less sacrifices to demon-idols.
And we also say to ourselves, "By the strength of my hand and the intelligence of my mind I have gotten these things." When we go by His ways, but don't acknowledge Him, we will still reap the results, gaining wealth; but Jesus said, What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37).
To get the Whole Picture, we need to seek God and learn His ways in order to order our thinking processes related to our bodies, our relationships, our businesses, every part of our lives: Physically, emotionally, psychologically, relationally.
But first we need to come to God, seek Him, realize we don't deserve any of His blessings, and let Jesus be your Savior, taking your place in death. Then learn His ways, and He will then be able to bless you, in every way. His mercy is not giving us the wrath we deserve, by putting it on Jesus instead. And His grace is giving us all the good that we don't deserve, because we are His children.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
