Stubborn

 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
Psalm 81:12 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.81.12.ESV

This might seem a strange verse initially. Shouldn't God be trying to remove stubborn hearts and replacing them with compliant ones? Shouldn't God be persuading people to follow His own counsels, not their own?

The truth is that God is sovereign. He's not helplessly wringing His hands when we stubbornly go our own way. He leaves us to our own devices.

If we humbly return to the Lord, He will welcome us with open arms. Yet He's not a dictator. He respects our decisions. If we want to go our own way, He's not going to stop us.

This is actually a scary verse. We might think it seems great that we can do what we like and God won't stop us. Yet for Him to give up on us is the worst fate we could face.

'God, forbid that we should be given over to stubbornness and arrogance of heart. Please humble us and bring us back to You, in Christ's name, amen'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mercy

  For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:31 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/deu.4.31.ESV Jesus Christ is Lord. That's why they crucified Him, for claiming to be God and King: blasphemy to the Jews and treason to the Romans. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. So the same Jesus of yesterday is the Jesus of today. He was merciful yesterday, and He'll be merciful today and forever. He doesn't just turn around and decide to destroy people He's lavished His mercy upon. If we've received God's mercy, or if we receive it now, or before Christ returns, nothing can separate us from the love of God. If we want God's presence in our lives, and we cry out to Him for it, He's not going to abandon us in the wilderness of our sin. If we claim God's Bible promises for ourselves in faith, we are safe in Him. God promises never t
Read more

Power

 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.Exodus 9:16 ESVhttps://bible.com/bible/59/exo.9.16.ESV  Secular historians point to the lack of extra-biblical evidence of Hebrew slavery in Egypt and ensuing exodus. But here in this verse, God describes how this anonymous Pharoah has been immortalised in the annals of the Hebrews, so that God is proclaimed in all the earth. The mighty men of the world might think they can stand against God and win, but resistance is futile!  The more stubborn Pharoah was, the more the Lord was able to display His power. The more insistent Pharoah was of keeping his slaves, the more unreasonable he appeared. It was a battle of wills, and the will of Yahweh prevailed.  In the end, Pharoah will have been broken by the plagues. In the final plague, his own firstborn son was killed, the next in line to the throne of the world superpower. He might have tried to put a brave face on it, but he
Read more

Helper

  Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. Psalm 54:4 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.54.4.ESV Being a helper is a humble role. Humanly speaking, we want to be the main act, not the side show. Yet, even though God is the director of life, He isn't afraid to step on stage to help us out. We might assume that the helper is subordinate to the helped. After all, if someone is deemed worthy of help, they must be important, right? Jesus came not to be served but to serve however. To be helped doesn't require us to do anything. To help is greater than to be helped. Better to actively contribute to someone rather than to simply passively benefit from someone's assistance. How are we even alive? Is it because we eat healthily, exercise well, and observed covid regulations? Ultimately, we live because God upholds our lives. 'God our Helper, thank You for not being too proud to assist us. Please uphold our lives, until You call us home, in the name
Read more