A Stiff-Necked People

Deuteronomy 9:11-16 (KJV) Says, "And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people: Let me  alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you."  II Chronicles 30:8 (KJV) Says, "Now be  ye not stiff-necked, as  your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you."

In the above passage of scripture taken from Deuteronomy, Moses had gone up to Mt. Sinai to meet with God, and receive the ten commandments. Moses left his brother, Aaron, in charge of the Israelites who he had led out of bondage in Egypt. Aaron and the children of Israel were aware that Moses had gone to meet with God, and they had witnessed God's mighty power as He sent plague after plague upon Egypt until Pharaoh agreed to set them free. After forty days and forty nights God gave Moses the ten commandments, and advised him to go down from Mt. Sinai quickly. God advised Moses that he needed to get down from the mountain quickly because Aaron and the Israelites had corrupted themselves. God told Moses that the Israelites had turned away from what He instructed them to do, that they had strayed from His instructions and had done so quickly. They had lost patience waiting on Moses to return, and had made a molten calf to worship. They had witnessed God's power firsthand in Egypt and also as they were led out of Egypt yet they lost patience, gave up on God, and disobeyed His instructions. They were doing things their way, in their time, and leaving God out of it. How quick they were to give up on God.

In the above verse of scripture taken from II Chronicles, God warns the Israelites not to be stiff-necked like their fathers were, but instead to obey and serve Him, and to avoid his wrath. The term stiff-necked is defined as haughty and stubborn, when speaking about a person or their behavior. So in short God referred to the Israelites several times as prideful and stubborn. He also uses the term stiff-necked in four verses in Exodus, two in Deuteronomy and one in Acts, just to name a few more.  This demonstrates what a huge problem pride and stubbornness were in the era of Moses, and this is a problem that remains in existence today.

The Israelites repeatedly disobeyed God, and then would turn back to Him after they made a disaster of such magnitude out of their lives; that they could no longer handle things on their own.  Each time, God  being merciful forgave them. The world continues to be full of stiff-necked people. There are people all around us so full of pride and so stubborn that they refuse to admit there is anything they can't handle . These people refuse to turn to Almighty God until they are in dire straits. They treat prayer like a fire alarm to be pulled only in an emergency. They pull it, and begin crying out to God for help, when something traumatic or devastating happens in heir life.

The children of Israel faced many trials and tribulations because of their disobedience to God, and it is no different for us today. We will be rewarded and blessed for living in obedience to him, and we will face consequences for disobeying him. The world is in a state of devastation, and we have numerous people acting confused as to why that is. We will never know the reason for everything, but we can look to God's Word, and find that many things are the consequences of our own actions. That being said, I don't think there's a need to ask why the world is in the state it's in, or why some people's personal lives are in the shape their in.   If we take a look around at all the stiff-necked people who have chosen to disobey Almighty God just as the Israelites did, and the ones that are doing all they can to take God out of everything, we may see things a bit clearer.

The good news is that if we go to God in prayer, and repent of our sins He will forgive us and have mercy on us just as He did the Israelites. If you know you're living in disobedience to God I urge you to go to Him in prayer, ask Him to forgive you, and return to following Him immediately. If you have somehow justified in your mind that straddling the fence and obeying God in some things while disobeying him in others is acceptable, I urge you to stop kidding yourself because this behavior is by no means acceptable.  If all Christians who have strayed from their walk with God would go to Him in prayer, ask for forgiveness of their sins, and return to walking  in obedience to Him I have no doubt whatsoever that we would see major improvements in not only our personal lives, but in the state of the world.

If you have a prayer request and would like me to pray for you, leave me a message and I will be more than happy to do so. May God bless you.