An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 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 were 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.
In this verse, God is talking to the Israelites, and He’s reminding them that He chose to love them. Not because they were stronger or bigger than other groups of people. But because… well, simply because He wanted to.
Have you ever wondered why God loves you? Out of all the people on earth, why did God pick you and me?
I think all Christians ask this question at some point in their lives. We might look at our neighbor who hates God and says bad things about Him and wonder why God chose to love us rather than that neighbor—why He changed our hearts instead of our neighbor’s heart.
Is it because we’re prettier or smarter or sweeter or taller or better dressed or cleaner or more obedient than others? Is it because we deserve God’s love?
Some people look at this question and say, “Well, you see, before the world was created, God looked into the future and saw that I would choose Him. So He chose me back.”
But when we read Scripture, we see that this cannot be true.
First of all, if God did not know something—if He had to learn something because He didn’t know who would choose Him, that means that God was not all-knowing. That would mean He had to learn. And the Bible makes it very clear that God is and always has been all-knowing. If He doesn’t know everything, He isn’t God. But, of course, God knows all things, and He always has. So that doesn’t work.
Ephesians 2:1 says that we were born “dead” in our sin.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…
This doesn’t mean our bodies were born dead. Obviously, if you are reading this, your body is alive. It means our souls are born dead. We can’t choose God on our own because we are dead in our sins. And dead people can’t choose God.
Imagine if a doctor had a medicine that could bring a dead person back to life! Now imagine how silly it would seem for that doctor to stand over the dead person and shout, “Hey, you! I can see you’re dead, but I have medicine that will bring you back to life! Would you like me to give it to you? Would you like to come back to life?”
Well, the doctor could stand there and shout at the dead body all day, but the dead body wouldn’t answer. It can’t answer. It’s dead. And as we said before, dead people can’t choose life.
No, the doctor would have to give the person the medicine before that person could make any choices at all.
In the same way, God must choose us before we choose Him. He says so in many verses:
Romans 9:16 says,
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Ephesians 1:4-5 says,
…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…
Romans 9:10-11 says,
And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
This thought might seem a bit scary at first. It means that if God didn’t choose me because I was good or made good choices or did all the right things… then I have no control over His love.
Exactly!
But believe it or not, this is good news! It’s the best news because no matter how we stumble in our sin—no matter how many times we fail to love God, His love does not rely on us or what we do or choose. He loves us simply because He wanted to. Isn’t that fantastic? God’s love for His children is not of my doing. That means it doesn’t rest on any other action other than His choice to love me and Christ’s work that He credits to us!
And the same goes for you, my dear child. You cannot earn God’s love, just as I can’t. We’re too sinful. But once God the Holy Spirit brings us to spiritual life out of that spiritual death, then we can love God. As 1 John 4:19 says,
We love because he first loved us.
So go, child. Sleep in God’s peace and love tonight.
Discussion Questions
1. According to this verse, do we choose God first, or does He choose us first?
2. Can we choose God through our own abilities? Or does something else have to happen first?
3. Once we learn of God’s love, what should our response be? What should we do, and why should we do it?
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