“Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?”
(Deuteronomy 32:6)
Moses poses a searching question to the hearts of God’s people, “Do ye thus requite the LORD?” The issue is not just that they have sinned, but that they sinned against such a Father. The burden of the charge is not only in the transgression but in the One against whom it is committed. He is their Father. He made them. He established them. And yet they have repaid Him with foolishness, ingratitude, and unfaithfulness.
The Lord does not deal with His people as strangers or hirelings, but as children. After He called us, redeemed us, and brought us into covenant with Himself, He does not abandon us when we stumble. And even though through frailty and corruption we fall again and again, He keeps us by His power unto salvation. As the apostle says, we are “kept by the power of God unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5).
Though our sins and careless devotion give God more than sufficient reason to abandon us, His love remains unchangeable. He leaves us neither to ourselves or to Satan. He seals this assurance by His Spirit, declaring that nothing in heaven or earth can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:38-39). This leads the soul to confess with Micah, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage… because he delighteth in mercy” (Micah 7:18).[1]
The goodness of God is made even more striking when compared with the many who fall away entirely. Both Scripture and experience testify that many who once seemed strong in knowledge and profession later turn to false doctrine, worldliness, or hatred of religion. Others, like those described in 2 Peter 2, return to their former corruption. Still many believers, though burdened with grievous sins, are kept in a state of grace.
This truth magnifies divine goodness, but it also intensifies guilt. The more gracious God has been, the more grievous sin becomes. Every transgression is not only a breaking of a command, but a despising of a Father’s love. God Himself presses this upon David after his fall, reminding him of all the mercies shown to him, and then asking why he despised the commandment of the Lord (2 Sam. 12:7-9). He pleads with Israel in the same way, setting His goodness before them so that their sins might appear in their true weight (Micah 6:3-5).
This is why true repentance flows from a deep sense of God’s fatherly goodness. Mary Magdalene wept much because she loved much, and she loved much because she knew how much she had been forgiven. When the Spirit of grace is poured out, it produces mourning, not indifference. Those who truly know God’s love cannot sin lightly against Him. They cannot turn grace into an excuse for carelessness. To do so indicates a heart that has lost the nature of a child.
The troubling question then arises: why do sins trouble us so little at times? Scripture answers plainly. It is because we are not deeply persuaded of God’s fatherly goodness. Where grace is truly tasted, sin becomes bitter, but where grace is presumed upon, sin becomes easy. The knowledge that God is gracious should lead to hatred of sin, and to despise such a Father is the height of foolishness.
Contemplations:
- Sin against love. I often think of sin as rule-breaking rather than as a personal offence against a gracious Father. When I remember how patiently God has kept me, forgiven me, and restored me, my sins appear far heavier than I want them to be.
- Preserved by mercy. I see others fall away, and I know I could have been among them. I am only still standing because God has been merciful.
- Lightly esteeming grace. I am disturbed by how easily I excuse my sin by thinking about God’s mercy. Instead of being softened, my heart sometimes grows careless. This shows how much I need a deeper sense of His fatherly love.
- True childlike fear. If I truly believed God was my Father in the fullest sense, I would fear grieving Him more than I fear consequences. I want my sorrow for sin to rise chiefly from having offended such goodness.
Prayer (Confession)
O Lord, my Father, I come before You ashamed and humbled. You have bought me, made me, and established me, and yet I have repaid You with sin, carelessness, and ingratitude. I confess that I have not considered deeply enough who it is that I have offended. I have broken Your commandments as if they belonged to some distant ruler instead of a gracious Father who has shown me constant mercy.
I acknowledge that You have kept me when I deserved to be cast off, You have lifted me when I fell, and You have not allowed my sins to destroy me. And yet I confess that I have often sinned again against that very goodness. I have taken Your patience lightly. I have presumed upon Your mercy. I have failed to hate sin as I ought, because I have not felt Your love as deeply as I should.
Forgive me, Lord, for turning grace into an excuse rather than a restraint. Forgive me for dullness of heart, for shallow repentance, for treating sin as a small thing when it has grieved You greatly. I confess that when my sins trouble me little, it is not because I am strong, but because I am spiritually cold.
Pour out upon me the Spirit of grace and supplication. Give me a heart that mourns, not only because sin brings consequences, but because it wounds Your love. Teach me to taste that You are gracious in such a way that I cannot be at ease in sin. Restore to me a childlike fear, a tender conscience, and a deep hatred of everything that dishonors You.
Let Your fatherly goodness not harden me, but break me. And let it constrain me to obedience because I desire to live as a child who loves his Father, not as a servant who only fears punishment. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I have sinned against Your great love.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further Scripture References for Deut. 32:6:
Isa. 63:16; Exod. 4:22; Psalm 100:3; Deut. 32:18
[1] Arthur Hildersam, CLII Lectures Upon Psalm LI (London: George Miller for Edward Brewster at his shop at the great North Door of Paul’s at the sign of the Bible, 1635), 226–228.
