Deuteronomy 31:29 “For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”
A dreadful cyclical pattern began in Genesis Chapter Two that continues to this very day. After the Lord abundantly blesses His people, they begin to drift away from Him and finally “corrupt” themselves. We “corrupt” ourselves when we add to our lives ungodly and immoral behaviors; that is, we fail to do what God has “commanded” us and we “do evil in the sight of the LORD” and we began to have more affection for “the work of” our “hands” than we do for the “LORD”. Thus, we reverence ourselves more than we do God. In this dreadful cyclical pattern, after a while, because of our abominable behavior, the Lord withdraws His protection from us and great “evil” (very bad things) befalls us because we have provoked “him to anger”. Moses’ prophecy certainly came to pass after the Lord had brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage, delivered them through the wilderness, and given them the Land of Canaan. They cyclically corrupted themselves, then they fell at the hands of evil, then they cried unto the Lord, and after they had suffered a while the Lord mercifully delivered them again. This is why we are given such urgent commandments as “my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58)! I fear, that again in our day, the Lord’s people have “refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear” (Zechariah 7:11)! However, the Lord charges His ministers to keep right on preaching His Word whether the people take heed to it or not (Ezekiel 31:16-22).