Until recently, my reaction to this verse was one of gratitude. I was thankful that our God overlooked all my weaknesses and failures and showed me grace and mercy. I connected it with the image of God as our heavenly parent: No matter what I did--whether I tried something and failed, or made a wrong choice by mistake, or even deliberately did something I wasn't supposed to do--I never had to earn my parents' love. They loved me because I was theirs, because they had wanted to bring me into this world, and because they were crazy about me. (Thanks mom and dad!)

God is like that, of course. He loves us, even when we goof up. In fact, he loves us even when we turn our backs on him. He created us, not because he had to, but because he wanted to! Isn't that wonderful news? You are not the product of a chance biological encounter--you are the creation of the Master Craftsman, who planned you and who, with the utmost dexterity, skillfully sculpted you in the most intricate detail. God brought you into this world because God wanted you here, because he wanted to know you and to love you and to give you all good things. There is nothing you can do to earn God's love, because he gives it to you before you even ask! In fact, there is nothing God gives away as freely, as lavishly, as his love. This is indeed great news!

But lately, as I've become more comfortable with trusting God's sovereignty and beneficence in my life, this verse has begun to frighten me. It's not that his love for us isn't real. No, everything I said above still holds true, even truer than before. I am still unworthy of God's love, and he still loves me anyway.

No, this verse frightens me now because I realize how many things I trust in other than God. Even worse, I catch myself thinking that God chose me because of these things. This verse is frightening because it literally rips out of the wall all of my pretensions of worthiness. Sure, I know in my head I'm not worthy of God's presence in my life, but my actions and attitudes reveal that I don't yet live this from my heart. The longer I walk this road, the more I realize the ways in which either I believe that God chose me for certain qualities, or that those qualities are signs of God's favor on me.

This verse tells us exactly the opposite. Here, Moses tells the Hebrew people that God has not shown them favor for any merit of their own, and that they should not assume that God's favor means that they have greatness in them, either. Why has God chosen them? Simply out of faithfulness, to keep a promise he made over 400 years ago (v. 8). The Hebrews were nobodies in Egypt--they were slaves, noticed only when they didn't do their work. They were not a group anyone would have taken seriously, even as an oppressed minority. The only thing in their favor--their ancestry--was completely out of their control.

Further, does being chosen by God mean that they have hidden greatness in them? Not at all. Look at verses 1-2 and 17-24. What is the message here? Not that they will be great in battle, but that God will do the main part of the fighting, that it is God who will deliver their enemies into their hands. Moses does not tell the Hebrews that their enemies aren't as tough as they appear, nor that the Hebrews are mightier than they think. He tells them that they are in way over their heads, just as they were in Egypt. What is their only hope? To trust in God and in no thing else: not their strength, not their numbers, not their leaders--for they have none of these things. All they have is God, who has all the power they need.

Why does God do this? To show the world who he is. For when the world sees the Hebrews entering the land of Canaan, it sees a miracle: this raggedy band of escaped slaves is doing the impossible! The only explanation for their success is that their God is a god to be reckoned with--a god of power, of might, and of action!

In doing this wondrous thing with the Hebrews, God delivers a second message--this one to the rest of the world: No matter how strong you think you are, no matter how much you have going for you, it means nothing to me. I can raise up whomever I choose, for whatever reason I choose, and all your might will be of no use to you. You may have a bigger army, better weapons, smarter generals, more money, stronger pride, and tighter organization -- but it won't do you any good. You cannot stand before me. All the power in the world is mine, and I dispense it as I choose, and I take it away as I choose.

God's message, at bottom, is simple: the only thing that is worthy of your trust is me. No matter how much faith you have, unless it is in something that actually has power, it is of no use. That is, unless we believe in God, who can do all things, our faith is useless to defend us.

What does this mean to us today? What things do we hold onto as sources of strength? What blessings do we have that make us assume we have God's favor? Do we trust in our intelligence? Our education? Our street-smarts? Worthless: God will use the ignorant to shame the wise.

Do we trust in our jobs, our careers, our bank accounts? Vanity: God can make the poor man rich and the rich man poor.

Do we trust in our families, our friendships, our acquaintances? God will turn the heart of the father against his son and vice versa.

Do we trust in our associations, our communities, our country? All power comes from God and God can overthrow these at any time he wishes.

Do we trust in our political system, our economic system, our ideologies? In our Constitution? The Bill of Rights? The Declaration of Independence? None of these make a bit of difference to God, who is able to raise up godly women and men in the most uncivilized, unlawful, unrighteous places.

Do we trust in our culture, our values, our morality? Our religion, our churches, our Bibles? God cares nothing for any of these things: they can all become idols; they can all become barriers between us and God.

Yet the wonderful part of this verse is that it promises us so much more than we could deliver for ourselves! Sure, we may have no strength or merit of our own, but God has all the strength and merit we need! Why do we need to trust in any earthly thing when God is promising to raise us up, set us free, and do great things with us? How could we have any greater security than the promise of God? Why would we not gladly forsake the entire world for this one promise of God? He who has always been faithful, and who loves us so very much, will take perfect care of us: We are in the safest possible place once we abandoned ourselves to the protection of God alone!

Truly, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the Living God!

S.D.G.!