Deuteronomy 7:7–8: “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

February 22nd, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

God directed Moses to humble the people by reminding them that they were “the least of all peoples.” They were small in number, probably less than 3 million total, and they were lowly slaves, who had come out of bondage in Egypt. It wasn’t because they were a mighty nation that God set His love on them, but because He loved them He would be their God.

Perhaps we also need to be gently reminded of the reason, the cause, of God’s grace on our lives. We tend to look within ourselves, searching for reasons why God has shown grace to us, but we are looking in the wrong place. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was not motivated by any inherent worth in us. In fact we are told Jesus died for us when we had no value whatever:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6–8).

The only explanation we can find for this amazing gift of grace is in the nature of the love of God, a love He gives first and that isn’t based on merit. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.” God’s grace is given because of His love. He displays His love to us and waits for us to respond and give Him our love. This is one of the great mysteries of eternity that Paul was trying to express in Romans 5. God’s love looks forward in time to what He can make us to be, rather than what we currently are. The sea captain John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace,” said this about eternity:

When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see people that I did not expect; the second wonder will be to miss many persons that I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there.

Truly that is amazing grace.

“LORD, please set Your amazing love and grace on our lives this day, in Jesus’ name.”