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Apr 06, 2022 18:30pm

Stiff Necks

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You know it’s going to be a tough day when you wake up with a crick in your neck. It’s so stiff you can’t turn it from one side to the next. You can’t look up and you can’t bend your head down. It’s stiff as a board.

This is how God described the people of Israel. He knew their sin – past, present and future. He knew their attitudes and their desires. He knew they struggled with full surrender, bowing to His commands. Just like with a crick in the neck, the people wouldn’t bring themselves to truly bow to Him. Their “stiff necks”, or pride, kept them from this total submission to the Lord. And it cost them dearly.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 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.” (Exodus 33:1-3)

They would still be allowed the Promised Land, but God would not walk with them anymore. Because of their disobedience and sinful hearts, there was once again a separation between God and the people.

Are you a “stiff neck”? I was. For years. I would make poor attempts to look as if I was bowing, but my pride, my sinful desires, my flesh, it all kept me from that full surrender.

I am fully surrendered to you, Lord. Whatever Your will is, just show me the way. No more what I want, what I think is best, but what is pleasing unto You!