Why did God's chosen people repeatedly disobey God?

I was recently reading the book of Kings, and noticed the kingdoms of Israel and Judah frequently and repeatedly disobeyed God. Even though they had the information they needed of what was pleasing to God and what was not, they repeatedly went against God's wishes.

This disobedience involved things that were against the ten commandments, like worshipping other gods.

At first, I wondered why His people would do this, period. Then I wondered why they would do it, after all that He had done for them, and after all the covenants he had made with them. Reading these passages of the Bible, I felt like an audience member watching a play and saying "no, don't do that! Don't do it! That's a really bad idea! God even said not to do it."

But yet, I should not be surprised, when I'm disobedient myself! I'm not any better than them. I could equally well say to myself "No, you know that's not a good idea!"

Knowing the theory and putting into practice are not one and the same thing! It's easy to know in theory what we should do; it's a no-brainer most of the time. But to put it into practice, every time, is the real challenge. So, I should not be judgmental nor surprised at the behavior of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Because I sin so often myself.

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