We start Deuteronomy which is primarily Moses’ last words to the Israelites, a review of Exodus – Numbers. It opens with their failure to take the land in Numbers 13 and 14.

The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain…See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.” … “See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” … Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 1.6, 8, 21, 26, ESV)

And then we come to chapter 2, which talks about the time AFTER they had wandered 40 years in the wilderness as a result of their unbelief recounted in chapter 1 and contains this shocking verse:

For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. (Deuteronomy 2.7, ESV)

They weren’t supposed to be in the wilderness for 40 years. They were supposed to be conquering the Promised Land. But even in the wilderness, after their rebellion, “Your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”

We often live as if everything depends on us. But the promises of God hold true even when we fail. This truth should provoke a different attitude. Not, “I need to do everything right so that God will bless me.” But, “Thanks be to God who blesses me even when I don’t do everything right.”

Contrast the attitude of the home-schoolers I read about in There’s No One Equation for Educating Christian Kids by Gretchen Ronnevik, September 29. 2023. She writes that as a home-schooler she was often called upon to…

…sign a contract committing to homeschool all my children through high school graduation and declaring my belief that homeschooling was the best educational choice for all families.

Many of these home-schooling parents were disappointed when not all their children kept the faith, especially when the kids perceived that the faith was dependent upon their works. Their perfect works. Gretchen writes:

I’ve witnessed many homeschooled kids who graduate wanting nothing to do with God. “It’s just too hard,” one of them said to me. “God wants me to be perfect all the time, and it’s not that I can’t try to please him anymore; it’s that I no longer care.”

The problem is…

We subconsciously start to believe that if we parent perfectly, we’ll have perfect children—and homeschooling offers a level of control that other education options can’t match. But this is a formula devoid of the doctrine of sin and redemption. At its root, it’s a sort of salvation through works. It’s devastating—and not only for the children who lose their faith.

I’ve been heartbroken sitting next to a friend who spent years of her life training up her children, only to see a child reject the faith she taught them. In her mind, she did everything right. She kept the standard high. She disciplined well. But the equation didn’t work.

I’m all for home-schooling in certain circumstances. If I had school-age children in today’s world, I’d certainly consider it. But home-schooling can be done badly. I’ve seen it firsthand in our extended family.

The issue I’m calling out today is the attitude that, as I wrote earlier, “I need to do everything right so that God will bless me.” That form of legalism and mechanistic faith is contrary to Deuteronomy 2, and it’s the sort of thinking Jesus often challenged the Pharisees about.

I’m also not diminishing the importance of obedience and the desire to be obedient. And I’m not downplaying the consequences of rebellion. It’s just that God’s faithfulness is larger than my faithlessness AND my “righteousness” based on hard and fast rules.

Pharisees challenged Jesus:

• Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? (Matthew 2.16)
• Why do your disciples not fast? (Matthew 2.18)
• Why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? (Matthew 2.24)

If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2.13, ESV)