#deuteronomy 32 19-22 Why Did the People of God Fall into Idol Worship? #bible study with #jairus
19 “The Lord saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
Why do God’s people—whether Israelites in the Old Testament or Christians in the New Testament—fall into idol worship? Because their hearts become prideful. This is the very reason that Satan fell. It was also the reason King Saul fell. When King Saul first became king, he was humble. But he later became prideful and wanted to run the nation as if it were his own kingdom, not God’s. In the end, God said, “I will hide my face from him and I will see what his end will be,” just like he said about Israel when they became prideful after God had blessed them (Deuteronomy 32:20).
God no longer spoke to King Saul through the prophet Samuel, through the priests, or through the Urim and Thummim. What was Saul’s reaction to God’s rejection? Instead of humbling himself, he reached out to a sorcerer, even though he had previously outlawed divination.
Many Christian nations or denominations have followed the same downward path. When they become prideful in their hearts, God hides his face from them. Instead of humbling themselves and coming back to their first love, they find it much easier to rely on a substitute and call this substitute “God.” This is what the Israelites did when they worshiped the golden calf and called him “God”!