““But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.” Psalm 81:11 ESV
Reflection: how can you talk sense to someone who is very stubborn?
We have probably all seen, perhaps even experienced ourselves, a stubborn or defiant child who no matter what the parents say, the child refuses to listen. They want to do things their way, as if the child thinks they know better. And, at some point, after wearing the parents down, they just might get their way. Stubbornness might almost be cute with a very young child. But as they get older, like a teenager, this is no longer so cute. It can clearly lead to some lifelong, very negative consequences. At a minimum, the teenager then becomes an adult who has low empathy, non-reflective and is very selfish. Probably highly manipulative in order to continue to get their way.
We read time and time again of the Lord God’s frustration with His people, such as in our focus verses in Psalms 81. The people had cried out to God to rescue them, and He did. “For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob. He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known: “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah” Psalm 81:4-7 ESV
And in the desert, after bringing them out of slavery, God warned them again and again, as a parent, to follow His ways. “Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel!” Psalms 81:8 NIV. So what is a parent to do? “So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.” Psalm 81:12 ESV. We know of course as parents, letting stubborn children have their own way is never good for them. There are many things they don’t understand yet, don’t have the capability to understand. That is why as parents you say “listen to me!” Or “do as I say!”. It is not to hurt the child, but to protect them, sometimes with very stern language. If you think about all that God had done for the Israelites, freeing them from slavery, how they still were stubborn and defiant. But wait, is the same true today? Do we also have stubborn hearts?
Do we take God’s word serious?
Or is it more like “good suggestions”, but a lot of it is not relevant to our modern lives? That we get to pick and choose what we think is relevant to us, but the rest we don’t worry about. Let me ask you – Has God changed, somehow, and He didn’t tell us about it? We read “God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change— he will hear them and humble them, because they have no fear of God.”Psalms 55:19 NIV. But, what about Jesus, isn’t He changing with the times (as many want you to believe)? “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 NIV. God will not be mocked.
Testing God is ignoring what He tells us, and just keep doing our own thing. Like a stubborn and defiant child, God will eventually let us have our own way, follow our own wisdom and path. A very scary thought. “So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.” Psalm 81:12 ESV. To make it through this treacherous journey called the world, we must admit that He knows the better ways. We must submit to His ways, submit to His will. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”James 4:7-10 NIV