“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you are the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt.”
– Deuteronomy 7:7–8
I love Deuteronomy 7:7–8. Did you hear what God just said to his people? He says, “It’s not because you’re this great mighty large group of people that the Lord set his love on you.” God is saying that, “I didn’t love you because you’re this great mighty large group of people, for you are the fewest of all peoples.” So, why did the Lord choose? That’s the language here? He chose you, even though you were the fewest of all peoples. Why?
God’s love for us is not found in any merit in us, but solely because of the love and mercy in Him.
Deuteronomy 7:7–8 Reminds Us of God’s Mercy
And the answer is: It is because the Lord loves you. So, the Lord set His love on the People of Israel. Why? Because the Lord loved the people of Israel. In other words, it wasn’t because of any merit in them at all. It wasn’t Because of them at all. It was because of him. It was because of the Lord that he set his love upon them. This love initiated, originated in God, and there was no reason for it in Israel.
And you take that truth, and you think about your life. I think about my life, “Why has God loved me like he has? I am a sinner before God. I have rebelled against God. I was born in sin, running from God, rebelling against God. Why did he love me?” It wasn’t because of any merit in me, but solely because of the love and mercy in him. His love is the only explanation for why I’m a follower of Jesus, because he chose in his grace and his mercy to pour out his love on me.
Deuteronomy 7:7–8 Reminds Us of God’s Love
And the same is true for you and for all who know God. The reality is, you know God. You know his love because of his love. Period. Not because of you. This is basic Christianity. Ephesians 2:8, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, so that no one can boast.” And so, Deuteronomy 7:7–8, just cause us to pray, overwhelmed by grace.
O God we know not one of us is praying to you right now, that has relationship with you right now, has this relationship with you, has eternal life in you, because of any merit in us. God, we just confess that in a fresh way today that we don’t deserve your grace. We don’t deserve your love. That the reason and we have your love is not in us; it’s all in you. We praise you for your love. We praise you for loving us, for calling us for choosing us, for sending your Son to die on a cross for us.
This Verse leads Us to Pray for the Unreached
And not just for us God, as we pray so often on this podcast for all the peoples of the world, we know you sent your Son to ransom people for you from every nation, tribe and tongue; from the Khang people of Vietnam. So, God, we pray may the Khang people of Vietnam know your love O God. Please cause the gospel to go to them that they might know your love, that every people group in the world might know your love, that more and more people around us might know your love.
God, we pray that you would use us to share the gospel today that somebody else would know your affection, who doesn’t know your affection right now. Your love, your mercy. God, we praise you for saving us by your grace, and not because of ourselves. We know that our salvation is a gift from you, which means our only boast is in you. We have no boast in ourselves. Our only boast is in the cross of Jesus Christ. And we praise you O God, for your love for us. In his name, we pray Deuteronomy 7:7–8. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
