So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
Psalm 81:12 is God’s fearful answer to Israel’s refusal of Him. Jehovah had reminded them that He brought them out of Egypt and commanded them to depend upon Him (v.10). “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me” (v.11). Then comes the judgment: “So I gave them up.” This verse is God’s own word of judgment, sung in Israel’s worship as a warning. It concerns God’s people nationally refusing His voice, preferring their desires, and receiving the dreadful punishment of being left to follow what they wanted.
“So.” This word joins the judgment directly to the rebellion before it. Israel would not hearken, so God gave them up. Sin has consequences. Men often imagine that refusing God leaves them in a neutral place where nothing changes, but rebellion itself moves them toward judgment. God had spoken, warned, commanded, provided, and required dependence; Israel refused. The word declares that what follows is judicial. Their self-rule was not freedom from consequences. It became the very form of their punishment.
“I gave them up.” God is the subject. Israel chose rebellion, but God judicially handed them over to the course they demanded. This is one of the most frightening forms of divine judgment because it may look like liberty to the sinner. He gets what he wants. The restraint he hated is removed. The counsel he preferred becomes his guide. Yet being left to oneself is no blessing.
The New Testament uses the same dreadful language. Because men changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped the creature more than the Creator, God gave them up to uncleanness, gave them up unto vile affections, and gave them over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:24-28). Divine abandonment to chosen sin is judgment, not approval. God is not the author of their sin; He gives sinners over to the sin they love.
This should correct the foolish idea that the worst punishment is always an outward calamity. Sometimes the more fearful judgment is inward: God lets the rebel proceed. Pharaoh hardened his heart, and God also hardened Pharaoh’s heart in judgment (Exodus 8:15; 9:12). A man may still possess health, money, freedom, influence, and pleasure while sinking under divine displeasure. The absence of immediate disaster does not prove the presence of favor. If God leaves a man to his own lusts and counsels, prosperity itself may become part of the snare.
“Unto their own hearts’ lust.” “Lust” in Scripture is desire or craving, and it is not limited to sexual sin. Israel wanted what its own heart preferred instead of what God commanded. The possessive words are searching: “their own hearts’ lust.” They chose themselves as the source of desire and rule. The heart became master where God’s voice should have ruled.
Scripture warns against this inward government. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26). Jeremiah declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). To be governed by one’s own heart is therefore not liberty but danger. Fallen desire is a poor god.
Israel had shown this appetite before. In the wilderness they lusted for the foods of Egypt and despised the provision God gave them (Numbers 11:4-6). Psalm 106 says, “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:14-15). God may grant the request and judge the requester through the very thing desired. Getting what the heart demands can be a curse when the heart demands against God.
“And they walked.” The inward lust became an outward course. Men eventually walk where the heart leads. Israel’s problem was not hidden desire alone; their desires became conduct. Walking describes continued behavior, a chosen way carried out over time. Before the flood God saw that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth (Genesis 6:12). A sinful heart does not remain contained forever. Desire forms decisions, decisions form habits, and habits become a way.
“In their own counsels.” Israel did not lack counsel; they rejected God’s and substituted their own. Human counsel becomes dangerous when it is independent of divine truth. Men can reason carefully, plan skillfully, gather agreement, and still be entirely wrong because their starting point is rebellion. “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30). The plural shows how many human plans arise once God’s voice is refused, yet all share the same root: man deciding without submission to God.
The next verse shows what Israel lost by this rebellion: “Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!” (v.13). Obedience would have brought the subduing of their enemies and the finest of the wheat (vv.14-16). The fault lay wholly with Israel. Their own counsel did not enlarge their liberty; it robbed them. Self-rule promised independence but produced loss.
Jesus Christ showed the perfect opposite disposition. He did not pursue an independent will against the Father. He said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). In Gethsemane He submitted His human will to the Father’s will (Luke 22:42). Where Israel walked in its own counsels, Christ walked in perfect obedience. His example condemns the proud assumption that personal desire is the highest rule of life.
Fear the judgment of being left to yourself. Do not mistake unchecked desire for freedom or successful self-direction for divine favor. “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Hear God’s voice, refuse the rule of your own lusts, and seek His counsel in every way you take.
So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
Psalm 81:12 is God’s fearful answer to Israel’s refusal of Him. Jehovah had reminded them that He brought them out of Egypt and commanded them to depend upon Him (v.10). “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me” (v.11). Then comes the judgment: “So I gave them up.” This verse is God’s own word of judgment, sung in Israel’s worship as a warning. It concerns God’s people nationally refusing His voice, preferring their desires, and receiving the dreadful punishment of being left to follow what they wanted.
“So.” This word joins the judgment directly to the rebellion before it. Israel would not hearken, so God gave them up. Sin has consequences. Men often imagine that refusing God leaves them in a neutral place where nothing changes, but rebellion itself moves them toward judgment. God had spoken, warned, commanded, provided, and required dependence; Israel refused. The word declares that what follows is judicial. Their self-rule was not freedom from consequences. It became the very form of their punishment.
“I gave them up.” God is the subject. Israel chose rebellion, but God judicially handed them over to the course they demanded. This is one of the most frightening forms of divine judgment because it may look like liberty to the sinner. He gets what he wants. The restraint he hated is removed. The counsel he preferred becomes his guide. Yet being left to oneself is no blessing.
The New Testament uses the same dreadful language. Because men changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped the creature more than the Creator, God gave them up to uncleanness, gave them up unto vile affections, and gave them over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:24-28). Divine abandonment to chosen sin is judgment, not approval. God is not the author of their sin; He gives sinners over to the sin they love.
This should correct the foolish idea that the worst punishment is always an outward calamity. Sometimes the more fearful judgment is inward: God lets the rebel proceed. Pharaoh hardened his heart, and God also hardened Pharaoh’s heart in judgment (Exodus 8:15; 9:12). A man may still possess health, money, freedom, influence, and pleasure while sinking under divine displeasure. The absence of immediate disaster does not prove the presence of favor. If God leaves a man to his own lusts and counsels, prosperity itself may become part of the snare.
“Unto their own hearts’ lust.” “Lust” in Scripture is desire or craving, and it is not limited to sexual sin. Israel wanted what its own heart preferred instead of what God commanded. The possessive words are searching: “their own hearts’ lust.” They chose themselves as the source of desire and rule. The heart became master where God’s voice should have ruled.
Scripture warns against this inward government. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26). Jeremiah declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). To be governed by one’s own heart is therefore not liberty but danger. Fallen desire is a poor god.
Israel had shown this appetite before. In the wilderness they lusted for the foods of Egypt and despised the provision God gave them (Numbers 11:4-6). Psalm 106 says, “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:14-15). God may grant the request and judge the requester through the very thing desired. Getting what the heart demands can be a curse when the heart demands against God.
“And they walked.” The inward lust became an outward course. Men eventually walk where the heart leads. Israel’s problem was not hidden desire alone; their desires became conduct. Walking describes continued behavior, a chosen way carried out over time. Before the flood God saw that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth (Genesis 6:12). A sinful heart does not remain contained forever. Desire forms decisions, decisions form habits, and habits become a way.
“In their own counsels.” Israel did not lack counsel; they rejected God’s and substituted their own. Human counsel becomes dangerous when it is independent of divine truth. Men can reason carefully, plan skillfully, gather agreement, and still be entirely wrong because their starting point is rebellion. “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30). The plural shows how many human plans arise once God’s voice is refused, yet all share the same root: man deciding without submission to God.
The next verse shows what Israel lost by this rebellion: “Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!” (v.13). Obedience would have brought the subduing of their enemies and the finest of the wheat (vv.14-16). The fault lay wholly with Israel. Their own counsel did not enlarge their liberty; it robbed them. Self-rule promised independence but produced loss.
Jesus Christ showed the perfect opposite disposition. He did not pursue an independent will against the Father. He said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). In Gethsemane He submitted His human will to the Father’s will (Luke 22:42). Where Israel walked in its own counsels, Christ walked in perfect obedience. His example condemns the proud assumption that personal desire is the highest rule of life.
Fear the judgment of being left to yourself. Do not mistake unchecked desire for freedom or successful self-direction for divine favor. “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Hear God’s voice, refuse the rule of your own lusts, and seek His counsel in every way you take.