Have you ever known anyone who is stiffnecked? Have you ever known someone who would bow their neck and make a decision, even knowing the decision was wrong, and yet continue in their decision for pride's sake? Have you ever known anyone so full of pride that they refuse to make a change knowing that they have made a decision that gives them a destination called destruction?
Exodus 32:7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them:...
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
When we become stiffnecked it is because we have corrupted ourselves.
Exodus 33:3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way... 5 For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee:
The people of Israel, who were taken out of Egypt, missed the land of "Milk and Honey" because they were stiffnecked. Their children when into the land, but they did not. When we become hard against God and what He is trying to teach us, when we become stiffnecked, we many times miss the blessings which God has for us.
Deuteronomy 9:6 Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
God wants us to have understanding of the way He works in our life. He wants us to understand that if we are stiffnecked then we lose out on many of the blessings that God has for us. He writes these things for us to understand how He works in our lives.
Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Each individual must make a decision NOT to be stiffnecked. Only you can make that decision for yourself.
2 Chronicles 30:8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, 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. 9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.
When we are stiffnecked, we cannot serve God. Yielding unto God is the opposite of being stiffnecked. We cannot enter into His presence when we are stiffnecked. When we are in a position that we are stiffnecked, we must turn again to God, because we have turned away from Him. God is gracious and merciful, if we return unto him. If we do not, then there is judgment.
Right now someone reading this is saying but all this is Old Testament. Yes and it is New Testament also, Stephen was stoned to death because he gave this very word to the hard hearted religious leaders. The covered their ears it made them so mad. They refused to hear because they wanted to believe that God would bless them no matter what they did.
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Are you doing something wrong in your life and expecting God to bless you anyway? Are you being stiffnecked and hard headed? Are you continuing in sin and waiting for the hammer to fall? If the answer is "yes", then ask for forgiveness and enter into His presence. When we are in His presence there is fullness of joy!
1 John 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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