THE PERIL OF STUBBORNNESS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

Proverbs 29:1

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Here’s a word you don’t hear used very often today: stiff-necked.

Seriously, when have you ever heard anyone call someone stiffed-necked?

It really has become a bit of a lost term today. Perhaps this is because less and less people are reading the scriptures for if you did, you would see the word stiff-necked used quite often, particularly by God in referring to His people. The following verses validate this:

“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Exodus 32:9

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb. Exodus 33:1-6

Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. Deuteronomy 10:15-17

The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”

But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected His decrees and the covenant He had made with their ancestors and the statutes He had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.” 2 Kings 17:13-15

I could go on and on but you get it. The Lord did not favor His people being stiff-necked, stubborn in their rejection of His will, way, and word, obstinate in their insistence on trusting themselves and others more that the Lord who made them and promised to never leave or forsake them.

Today, I’m afraid we’re just as bad, if not worse, than the biblical Israelites. We serve the same God and are equally obligated to submit all that we are and all that we have to His service. We live as if we have no fear of the Lord’s judgment, no concern of His wrath. And even after He corrects us over and over and over again in life, we never seem to get it. We never seem to realize that His patience will one day wear out and when it does, we will realize fully the peril in stubbornness, in willful disobedience to the Lord God Almighty.

We know that peril awaits because the word of God from Proverbs, Chapter 29 tells us so. Look at verse 1:

Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

God, the Maker and Creator of all things, will not stand for His people to live against Him, opting for sinfulness and wickedness over righteousness. Stubbornly dismiss Him, fail to take His rebukes seriously, and you will pay the price with sudden destruction coming your way with no remedy afterwards.

Our Lord will not be slighted nor settle for being treated with anything short of our utmost reverence and respect. The call here is for us to surrender ourselves, to die to self so the Lord might enter in us and make us a new creation in Him. It’s the only way to ensure we escape the perils of stubbornness.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com