Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 81:12

"So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, That they might walk in their own counsels." — Psalms 81:12 (ASV)

So I gave them up to their own hearts’ lust — Margin, as in Hebrew, to the hardness of their own hearts. Literally, “I sent them, or I dismissed them, to the hardness of their hearts.” I allowed them to have what, in the hardness of their hearts they desired, or what their hard and rebellious hearts prompted them to desire: I indulged them in their wishes.

I gave them what they asked, and left them to themselves to work out the problem of success and happiness in their own way—to let them see what must be the result of forsaking the true God. The world—and the church too—has often been allowed to make this experiment.

And they walked in their own counsels — As they thought wise and best. Compare Acts 7:42; Acts 14:16; Romans 1:24; Psalms 78:26–37.