Scripture Notes: The Song of Moses, Part 2 (Deuteronomy 32)

In the midst of his song, Moses contrasts God’s fidelity and perfection with the people’s corruption and faithlessness. Then he asks, “Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is He not your father, Who created you, Who made you and established you?” (Deut 32:6). With these questions, Moses is urging the people (and us) to think deeply. How do we repay the Lord? With love and obedience and trust? Or with sin and doubt and selfishness? 

Actually, we can never repay the Lord for what He has done for us. He brought us into being from nothing. He has given us all that we have and all that we are. He holds us in being at every moment. He  showers us in His grace. He holds out His mercy and forgiveness. He welcomes us back when we stray. He rescues us from our captivity and misery. And He does it all with the greatest love. We cannot ever satisfy that debt.

But we can remember, and we can off our meager attempts at love and faith and obedience. We can repent when we fall and open our hearts and hold out our hands to receive God’s mercy. In fact, Moses urges the people to remember and to ask their elders to tell them the stories of what God has done for them, how He chose them as His own and cared for them in the wilderness. God has protected His people and kept them safe, lifting them up like an eagle carries its nestlings on its wings. He has given them everything they need, and they will have even more when they enter the Promised Land. God is setting them up for success and prosperity but not merely for the sake of worldly riches but so that they can worship Him faithfully with grateful hearts.