Joel M Bradshaw

11“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.–Psalm 81

Asaph at times quoted God in this psalm. Here is one of those moments. What was God’s message? His people refused to do two things and so God instead did two things.

1. NOT LISTENING TO GOD. Israel had the prophets speaking the words of God. They also had Scripture that was written down. They refused to listen to God. Today we have the Bible. it is complete and full. It requires no further addition. To listen to God’s voice today means to open your Bibles and pay attention to how God uses his Word to challenge and change you.
2. NOT SUBMITTING TO GOD. Parents don’t just expect their children to listen to them, but to obey. When we don’t submit to God, we are acting like God instead. Theology begins with the realization that God exists and that I/you are not him. To be in a relationship with God requires faith or trust. Trust implies submission.
3. GAVE THEM OVER TO THEIR STUBBORNNESS. This action by God is harder to understand. It pictures Israel saying, “My will be done” rather than “Thy will be done”. And it pictures God saying with finality, “Fine.” Reminds me of the CS Lewis quote: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done. ‘ All that are in Hell, choose it. 
4. TO THEIR OWN COUNSEL. I am a biblical counselor. And when I journey with people, I establish quickly that I am not the answer to their problems and they are not as well. We go to the Bible for direction and hope. To the very God who created them and knows them better they even they know themselves. The tragedy of the book of Judges can be summed up with “Israel did what seemed right in their own eyes.”

This psalm reminds me of a pivotal passage in Romans 1 (I underlined the connection)…

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

God chooses to give grace to some and that grace saves. To others he simply gives them over to the things they already selfishly want to do. As Christians we need to focus on submitting to God, following his Word, and living lives that God give him glory alone. We stay intentional rather than stubborn. We seek counsel from the Bible rather than from within ourselves.–JMB