"After the LORD your God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, the LORD is going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked. It is not because you are good and do what is right that the LORD is letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You can be sure that the LORD is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people."

"Never forget how you made the LORD your God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him. Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD angry – angry enough to destroy you. I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets on which was written the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I stayed there forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain. Yes, after those forty days and nights the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written the covenant."

Deuteronomy 9:4-11

It is easy for us to think we deserve the help that others graciously give us. When we are successful, we tend to assume that we deserve our possessions. Success goes to our head. It makes us proud and can even turn us away from God. Ungratefulness is a temptation today, just as it was in the time of Moses. God led them to the promised land to fulfill His purposes and promises. They would succeed because of Him, not because of their own righteousness.

We don’t need more to be thankful for,

we just need to be more thankful.

Our Daily Bread – May 14, 2003