Deuteronomy 9:5:  “Not for the righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart do you go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations and that he may perform the word which the Lord confirmed unto thy  fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

It doesn’t take a deep study into the Hebrew to get the literal message of this verse.  God was not bringing the children of Israel into the promised land because they were good people, but because he made a promise to their fathers. God is bringing this to pass for only one reason, he is being true to His word.  The fulfillment of His promise is not dependent upon one’s righteousness but upon the Word of God.

Many of us are approaching our Promised Land, we can see it, it is in sight.  After years of wandering we sense we are now about to experience God’s promise in our lives, but then we look ahead and what do we see, giants. There may be financial giants, giants of  health issues or relationship issues. “Lord, did you take me this far just have it all end this way?”

Who do we sound like?  We sound like the children of Israel ready to enter the Promised Land only to be confronted by the giants. Did God take us out of Egypt only to have our heads lopped off by the children of the Anakims?  Yes, Israel was freaked out or as the KJV version puts it a stiff-necked people, like many of us they could only see one way and that was the way of the natural world and that can really get scary at times.  Yes, in the natural world the children of the Anakims would make short work of the armies of Israel, nothing left but a grease spot.  Anak was a giant whose descendants were giants.  We don’t know how the children of Israel knew of this race, but apparently they were legends and it struck terror in their hearts.  I do not think it is an accident that God calls the people of Israel in verse 6 a qesheh oreph- stiff necked when they fear the Anakims which means necklace or long neck. Do I detect a play on words here? The idea is that when you have a stiff neck you cannot turn your head side to side, you can only see in one direction.

Well back to our woeful situation. We have wandered through the wilderness for many years now.  For some of us just by virtue of our age we should be approaching our Promised Land. We scout it out and bam, we get hit with the Anakim of a medical report. We have many years of  seeking to walk with God, seeing miracles and deliverances.   God brought us water from a rock, manna from heaven and maybe even pushing back the water of the Red Sea for us to cross.  God has provided for us in ways we never dreamed and now we face an Anakim and like Israel we wonder if God brought me all this way just to dump us.

Now what is our first thought. If you’re like me you begin to wonder if you have some sin in your life.  So you start a cleanup act.  That is a very righteous thing.  Perhaps we will go on a fast that too is a righteous act.  We would only break the fast to have communion with God that is also a righteous thing.  We find ourselves praying a lot more, studying the Word of God a lot more that too is righteous.  Then we sit back and think, surely God will say: “Oy, Bunkie, what good things you’ve done for me, come, come, let me give you that blessing you have been praying for.”

But do you know what Deuteronomy 9:5 is telling us? It is saying that our righteousness, our uprighteous heart is not what is going to give us entrance into the Promised Land.  The word uprighteous is yasar which is to be straight or even.  This is more than just doing good things for God but having a heart with the right motive.  Are we just having communion with God to bribe Him into giving us a blessing or do we really enjoy spending that time with Him.   Yet even that is not why God will deliver us from this situation.  He will do it to keep His promise.  His promise to us is that we will complete our journey to the Promised Land that is our journey to discover His heart. To know His heart like David knew His heart.  God will do whatever it takes to fulfill that promise, for He has confirmed His Word.  The word confirm is kakak.  This is a word used for engraving, imagining, or to portray.  It is a legal term.  When a law is passed it is ratified.  It is engraved, it is set in stone so to speak.   God will keep his promise because it is set in stone and he will do it if you are righteous or not. He will do it  just to let the world know that He is not a celestial welcher.

So for many of us it may seem like our ship is sinking.  When the disciples were in a storm and their ship was sinking, Jesus calmed the storm.  However, when Paul was in a storm and his ship was sinking, it sunk, still everyone survived.   Maybe God will calm the storm maybe he won’t, maybe He will let our ship sink.  But what is important is the Promised Land and we must understand what that Promised Land is, as God understands the Promised Land.

But let’s just suppose that boat sank for the disciples.  What would Jesus have done?  Would he have transported himself to dry land?  I doubt it, I think he would have been treading water  right there with His disciples.  When Paul’s ship sank, I believe Jesus was treading water right there with Paul.  If our ship sinks, we can be sure that Jesus will be right there treading water with us.  After all, we have a deal, and the end result is that we will know His heart.

By the way, remember the Anakims?  Check out Joshua 15:13.  Caleb, the spy, who was with Joshua, said” “Hey, giants or no giants, God gave us this land, let’s go get it.”  Forty years later, as an older man, he lead the attack and made short work of the Anakims.