Tag: rebellious generation

44.o. “Wilderness” – 8.u. “Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.”

 

Exodus 32:8-10  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

 Exodus 20:23    You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

 Deuteronomy 9:16  And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

 Judges 2:17   Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.

 Proverbs 29:1    He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

 Zechariah 7:11-12     But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.  They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

 Psalms 78:8    and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Quickly after the law was given to them, and they had promised to obey it; quickly after God had done such great things for them, and declared his kind intentions to do greater. Untractable, willful, and stubborn; unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, averse from all good, prone to all evil, incorrigible by judgments, and obstinate to all the methods of cure. (Benson)

How easy is it to fall away from intentional obedience to God and things of God? How easy is it to keep that unholy thought just a few more seconds in your mind? How easy is it to be tempted by things and thoughts of this world and what it establishes as important? How easy is it to not eat or drink from His Word? How easy is it to be influenced by things in this world? 

Take time and think about your past week and how much time was spent between worldly and Godly pursuits. There is no time like right now to affirm a new intentional choice to spend more time studying and meditating (thinking) about things of God, holiness, and the sinfulness of sin.

Stubborn and rebellious

“Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.”

“Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.”

Psalms 106:6  Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.  Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

 Psalms 78:8    and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

 Leviticus 26:40    “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,

 Numbers 32:14    And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel! 

  1 Kings 8:47     yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’

 Ezra 9:6-7     saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

 Nehemiah 9:16     “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.

 Daniel 9:5-8     we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.  We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.  To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame,  

Acts 7:51-52     “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

Stiff-necked, open to shame, not obeying, turned heart, walking contrary, resisting, not listening, unfaithful spirit, rebellious, and stubborn, all speak of the conditions of man in relationship to God when neglect and complacency creep into everyday life.  Some how cares of this world, pride, and lust close our heart, mind, and soul to God.  Everyday is a choice to open up to the leading of the Holy Spirit and hear the quiet whispers of God that leads us to humbly serve, honor, glorify, listen to, follow, and obey Him.  His word is gives light in darkness, guides our path, and is full of wisdom, power, truth, encouragement, strength, and hope.  Feeding on His word gives food to our heart and soul.  It keeps us ever learning of His awesome power, might and steadfast love to those who choose to humbly serve and follow Him, and His fierce anger and wrath to those who choose to live each day for their own purpose, their own gain, their own wants, their own pleasure, and their own honor without regard of God.  How do we know of sin, or if we are pleasing God, or if we are leading our children (the next generation) away from God, or if we are doing things contrary to His will, if we are committed fully each day to serving Him and His purposes, not spending daily time in His word, and not listening for and to His whispers of guidance.  How are we to know of our sin and get to a place in our heart and soul where we are ashamed and confess, if His word is not feeding them?  Through His word we find purpose for living each day.  Apart from His word we see only that which leads us astray and on a very slippery slope away from Him.  How can we understand God’s grace, mercy, and love if we have no understanding of sin? How do we know the need for forgiveness if we have no understanding of sin? How can we have an understanding of sin and what is pleasing and unpleasing to God apart from His word? How do we have a hope for eternal life apart from His word.  How do we know our sins are forgiven apart from His word?  Forgiveness is given to those who have had their heart and mind opened by God’s word and see their sinfulness and need of forgiveness and then believe in and trust in and cling to and rely on Jesus Christ.  Their hope of eternal life with Christ is build on nothing else.