Deuteronomy 32: 18-20, 28-39, A Nation Void of Sense

 

Observation: In this song from the closing few chapters of Deuteronomy, just before Moses' death, Moses uses a tender image, saying God "gave birth" to the people. But Moses also draws attention to the tense and often frustrating relationship between God and God's children. Like a mother, God often shakes her head at Israel's faithlessness, and calls Israel "a nation void of sense".

Application: If it wasn't clear before the pandemic forced us to spend more time at home, it should be now: There is no one who can push your buttons quite like your family. Watching my kids basically have the same squabble over and over, and seeing myself react so strongly over and over, sometimes I shake my head the way God seems to shake God's head. It gives me a sense of what it must be like for God to watch human history unfold, and seeing the same cruelty, carelessness and petty disregard for neighbor echo across the ages. And it's one thing to see it happen among people with no particular spiritual background. But to see that kind of behavior in people who claim to have faith in God--the same God who delivered Israel through the Red Sea, who gave the law to protect them and teach them to live as free people, who led them through the time of Exile, and who became flesh in Jesus Christ, who taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves--I can understand God's harsh words, that we are "a nation void of sense." If knowing the story of God's infinite goodness through the ages doesn't help us to have a little faith and love in our daily lives, it's hard to see what will. I can understand how God would, like my parents when I was young, say something like, "I thought I raised you better than that." And yet even in this song of frustration, there is grace. God still promises to "have compassion on his servants." Not because of who we are, but because of who God is. 

Prayer: God, thank you for your grace. Help us to forgive ourselves and others. Help us be patient with ourselves and with others, as you have been so patient with us. Amen.