Psalms 81:13 · KJV Bible | Whosoever Will

the book of psalms

David (73 psalms), Asaph, Sons of Korah, Moses, Ethan, and others · c. 1450–430 BC

Psalm the Eighty-first

Oh That My People Had Hearkened

Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

DOCTRINAL VERDICT

TIER 1: GENUINE DIVINE LONGING FOR A RESPONSE NOT GIVEN

Psalm 81 is one of the most overlooked passages in the OT for the Provisionist argument. God speaks directly in the first person: recalling His provision, lamenting Israel's refusal, releasing them to the consequences of their chosen stubbornness, and then doing something that no deterministic theology can absorb: expressing a wish. 'Oh that my people had hearkened unto me.' Not a decree. Not a sovereign command guaranteed to produce its result. A wish. The same God who controls all of history says 'if only.' The divine longing for a response that the people are not giving.

The Divine Lament: Thread 1 in Its Most Heartbreaking Form

T1Reaching God T4Real Response