Stiff-Necked – Praying Pint

45.d. “Wilderness” – 9.j. “For it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin”

Exodus 34:9  And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Exodus 33:13   Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

Exodus 33:17    And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

Isaiah 48:4   Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,

Exodus 32:9    And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

Exodus 33:5     For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’”

Numbers 14:19     Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

Psalms 25:11    For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Psalms 28:9    Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Psalms 33:12   Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

Psalms 78:62    He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.

Moses asked for the goodness, grace, and mercy of God be extended to himself and the nation. Moses knew they did not deserve it (we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin), but he asked for God’s grace and not His justice. (Guzik)

Yea, saith Moses, the rather go along with us; for the worse they are, the more need they have of thy presence. Moses sees them so stiff-necked, that he has neither patience nor power enough to deal with them; therefore, Lord, do thou go among us; else they will never be kept in awe; thou wilt spare, and bear with them, for thou art God and not man. (Benson)

It is a stiff-necked people, and therefore need thy glorious and powerful presence to rule them. Or rather, though it be a stiff-necked people, deal with us as men do with their inheritances, dwell among us, protect us, improve us. (Poole)

For it is a stiffnecked people; and therefore have need of such an one to be with them, to rule and govern them, to restrain and keep them within due bounds; or though it is a stiffnecked people”; for this is the reason given by the Lord why he would not go among them, wherefore Moses prays that he would go, notwithstanding this; he owns the character of them was just, yet humbly prays that God would nevertheless grant, impart, reveal, make known, confer, his presence and pardon our iniquity, and our sin; which he had the greater reason to hope he would, since he had just proclaimed his name, a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin; and, the more to gain his suit, makes himself a party concerned, calling the sin committed, “our iniquity, and our sin”; even his among the rest, who had found grace in the sight of God, and therefore entreats others might also, since they were all sinners, and there was forgiveness with him and take us for thine inheritance; to possess and enjoy, protect and defend, cultivate and improve, keep and preserve for ever. (Gill)

On this manifestation of mercy, Moses repeated the prayer that Jehovah would go in the midst of Israel. It is true the Lord had already promised that His face should go with them (Exodus 33:14); but as Moses had asked for a sign of the glory of the Lord as a seal to the promise, it was perfectly natural that, when this petition was granted, he should lay hold of the grace that had been revealed to him as it never had been before, and endeavour to give even greater stability to the covenant. To this end he repeated his former intercession on behalf of the nation, at the same time making this confession, “For it is a stiff-necked people; therefore forgive our iniquity and our sin, and make us the inheritance.” Moses spoke collectively, including himself in the nation in the presence of God. The reason which he assigned pointed to the deep root of corruption that had broken out in the worship of the golden calf, and was appropriately pleaded as a motive for asking forgiveness. (Keil)

When I look at the way of our country and the number of people who deny and reject God and things of God, I do fear God’s Holy judgment. However, when I look at those who are “called” by His name and their trust, reliance, and obedience I am encouraged and hopeful.

Surely Satan has a grip on many in our nation, states, cities, and neighborhoods, but God and the Word of God are more powerful. He is able to pierce the hearts and minds of lost souls, heal a nation, state, city, and neighborhood, and bring about a manifestation of holiness, servitude, reverence, and reliance in people who are now lost and in darkness.

Let our prayers be continuous for the power of God to bring a bright overwhelming light to the sinfulness of sin and lead and direct the course of our nation, states, cities, and neighborhoods into reverence and worship of Him.

44.x. “Wilderness” – 9.c. “‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you.”

Exodus 33:1  The LORD said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

Numbers 14:12   I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Ezekiel 3:19   But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Deuteronomy 9:6-13    “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.  Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

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.

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

Luke 17:26-30 And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man: the people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, [they were indifferent to God] until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building [carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins]; but on the [very] day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

This was a challenge to Moses and the nation as a whole. God told them they could have the Promised Land, but He would not remain with them in a close, personal way. “It is clear that the people felt that the promise of an angel to be sent before them was the lowering of a privilege.” If they were satisfied with that arrangement, it would prove they only loved God’s blessings and not God Himself. If they challenged God – pleading with Him for His presence, not only His blessings – it would show a genuine heart for God Himself. This was the first step towards spiritual restoration and revival in Israel. “To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else.” (Guzik)

Those whom God pardons, must be made to know what their sin deserved. Let them go forward as they are; this was very expressive of God’s displeasure. Though he promises to make good his covenant with Abraham, in giving them Canaan, yet he denies them the tokens of his presence they had been blessed with. The people mourned for their sin. Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, true penitents most lament, and dread most, God’s departure from them. (Henry)

At length there was an end of ambiguity – God’s purpose was made plain – the people had shown themselves unfit for his near presence, and he would withdraw himself. So it would be best even for them; since, if they were about to show- themselves as perverse in the future as they had in the past, his near presence could only lead to their entire destruction. Some day they would so provoke him, that he would consume them in the way. (Unknown)

What would our lives be like if we would understand that the indwelling Holy Spirit is “God With Us” and “God In Us”? Do we go about our lives as if His presence is not there? Do we join in social and cultural worldly paths, pleasures, and non-God-honoring ways? Do we put on worldly ornaments of pleasure and act as if somehow we are honoring God? Do we act like those in the times of Lot and Noah who went about life without giving God and things of God a second thought? Are we neglectful and complacent? Can we expect the presence of God to bless our lives while we live for things of this world?

Oh that we would cherish the presence of God in such a way that every day we desire to know Him more and more so that we might honor and glorify Him more and more.

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.

26.j. ““You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.”

Hebrews 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Isaiah 63:10   But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.

Matthew 12:32   And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

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

One reason some people give for not believing in hell is that hell is just too severe a punishment for wrong beliefs. They say, “Isn’t God overreacting just a little bit? Is a good, moral father who tries to live a good and moral life really going to be condemned to an eternity of suffering in the same way as a man who abuses children?” It seems too much that people are going to hell just because they have not believed the right things about Jesus. But when we say that, we really do not understand what a person is doing when he rejects or even neglects the gospel. Look at Hebrews 10:29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” The writer was saying when you reject Jesus Christ, you are treating His death as worthless. They are saying the death of His Son is worthless. When a person says no to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is saying the blood of God’s own Son has no value. When a person rejects or simply neglects the gospel, that person is continually rejecting the Holy Spirit of God who is moving in his heart to invite themm to accept the gospel.

19.o. “So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

Romans 6:13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

Colossians 3:5    Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

James 4:1   What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

Romans 7:5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

Isaiah 55:7   let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

2 Peter 2:13-15   suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.  They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!  Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,

2 Chronicles 30:8    Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

1 Corinthians 6:20     for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Peter 4:2     so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

A person can be “officially” set free, yet still imprisoned. If a person lives in prison for years, and then is set free, they often still think and act like a prisoner. The habits of freedom aren’t ingrained in their life yet. In the fourteenth century two brothers fought for the right to rule over a dukedom in what is now Belgium. The elder brother’s name was Raynald, but he was commonly called “Crassus,” a Latin nickname meaning “fat,” for he was horribly obese. After a heated battle, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him and assumed the title of Duke over his lands. But instead of killing Raynald, Edward devised a curious imprisonment. He had a room in the castle built around “Crassus,” a room with only one door. The door was not locked, the windows were not barred, and Edward promised Raynald that he could regain his land and his title any time that he wanted to. All he would have to do is leave the room. The obstacle to freedom was not in the doors or the windows, but with Raynald himself. Being grossly overweight, he could not fit through the door, even though it was of near-normal size. All Raynald needed to do was diet down to a smaller size, then walk out a free man, with all he had before his fall. However, his younger brother kept sending him an assortment of tasty foods, and Raynald’s desire to be free never won out over his desire to eat. Some would accuse Duke Edward of being cruel to his older brother, but he would simply reply, “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” But Raynald stayed in that room for ten years.

This accurately illustrates the experience of many Christians. Jesus set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement, and imprisonment. This accurately illustrates the experience of many Christians. Jesus set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement, and imprisonment. Your members are the parts of your body – your ears, lips, eyes, hands, mind, and so forth. The idea is very practical: “You have eyes. Do not put them in the service of sin. You have ears. Do not put them in the service of sin.” The parts of our body are weapons in the battle for right living. When the parts of our body are given over to righteousness, they are weapons for good. When they are given over to sin, they are weapons for evil. (Guzik)

It is a test of our claim to be Christians. Does anger have dominion over you? Does murmuring and complaining? Does covetousness have dominion over you? Does pride? Does laziness have dominion over you? If sin has dominion over us, we should seriously ask if we are really converted. It is a promise of victory. It doesn’t say that “sin will not be present in us,” because that will only be fulfilled when we are resurrected in glory. But it does promise that sin will not have dominion over us because of the great work Jesus did in us when we were born again. It is an encouragement for hope and strength in the battle against sin. God has set you free in Jesus. This is encouragement for the Christian struggling against sin, for the new Christian, and for the backslider. (Spurgeon)

18.l. “You are not your own”

John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

1 Corinthians 2:10-13   Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

2 Timothy 1:14    By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

1 Corinthians 6:19   Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

Ephesians 4:30    And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

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

The Holy Spirit is given by God to those who have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation, redemption, and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit is given to us by God to lead us, to help us understand, to help us remember, and to teach us. The Holy Spirit of God indwells those who believe and this is why Paul says to be mindful that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. In this simple statement Paul is saying; would you expose or allow into the temple to hate, greed, and anger when the temple is to be a place of love, joy, and generosity? Would you expose or allow into the temple pornography, lust, and adultery when it is to be a place of purity, holiness, and righteousness? Would you expose the temple to pride, self-reliance, and self-worth when it is to be a place of humbleness, surrender, and reliance in Jesus Christ alone? Would you expose or allow into the temple drunkenness when it is to be a place of sober-minded holiness? Would you expose or allow into the temple homosexuality and abortion when it is to be a place of purity and protector of life?

When you imagine allowing these into the temple surely you see this is more than foolish it is a direct rejection of God’s plan for the temple. We were redeemed at a great price. God’s only Son suffered and died so that he could redeem us from eternal hell. He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within each believer, making each of our bodies a temple of the Holy Spirit. How then must we think, do, and act? Should we not protect this temple from invaders, robbers, liars, haters, and false promises?

The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth but surely we must spend time in holy reverence cultivating God’s Word and deeply desire and seek this leading.

16. “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

John 7:6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

James 4:4    You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 4:5    They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

Proverbs 15:12     A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

Romans 8:7     For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

1 John 2:15-16     Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Acts 7:54   “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

“I testify about it that its works are evil.” “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.” “They are from the world.” “The mindset on the flesh is hostile to God.” “Do not love the world.” “Do not love things of the world.” “You stiff-necked people.” I am not sure I have ever seen the division, anger, fear, and hatred that is around us today. Surely it points to the condition of the heart of mankind without Jesus Christ in their lives. Boasting, looting, rioting, lying, causing fear, anger, and division are clearly coming from the abundance of what is filling their hearts. The love of God is not there but rather a love of self, self-centered, self-interests, self-reliance, self-power, self-worth, self-love, pride, greed, and arrogance. They harden their heart into stone and close their ears to His calling. They shake their mental fist at God, mocking the Creator, Savior, and coming again King of kings. When they harden their hearts and stiffen their necks against God there is no limit to what sin they can commit. Think about it. Abortion is called, “Pro-choice”. Pornography is called, “adult entertainment”. LGBTQ is called, “alternative lifestyle”. Breaking a contract for the sole purpose of making money is called, “shrewd businessman”. Lying in business is called, “manipulating the truth”. Hate and violence are called, “justified”. The list can go on and on. Sin is no longer recognized as sin. We can look at this list and say these are all sins against a child, person, business, or group of people. The fact is these are not sins against man but against Jesus Christ himself. When we sin it is not against man. We sin against God. We may harm man but we sin against God. We may wrong a person but we sin against God. When God is removed from our hearts and mind, there is no thought of sinning against God. Even as Christians we fall into a false thought that our sin is against a person rather than the one and only Holy God.

We must have a proper understanding of “Sin”, or our lives will become more and more like the world’s view of it.

14.l. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

John 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Isaiah 49:6   he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

1 John 5:20     And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

1 Corinthians 1:21     For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

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.

Imagine at the end of the day when you are very tired. It is dark outside and you find yourself nicely settling into a much-desired sleep. 30 Minutes into this sound sleep someone turns on a bright light and with squinting blinking eyes you plead or demand that the light be turned off. On the other hand, there are those who wake when the bright light is turned on and with squinting eyes seem to ask, with anticipation, what? They aren’t pleading for the light to be shut off. They want to know why the light is on. The human soul reacts to the bright light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the same two ways. The soul will either want to know about the light of the Gospel or plead/demand that the light of the Gospel be shut off. I sometimes wonder what causes the heart and soul to reject the light of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is grace, mercy, love, peace, hope, joy, strength, power, forgiveness, refuge, and eternal life. There is nothing within the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is offensive but still, people will hate, reject, detest, resent, oppose, and become bitter and hostile. When the Gospel is rejected there is harm to the heart and soul. When the Gospel is accepted there is life. But there is more. Rejection will end in torment, destruction, and eternity in hell. Acceptance will end in life, blessings, and eternal life in heaven.

3.a. That he may turn again to the remnant of you

2 Chronicles 30:1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Zechariah 1:3-4    Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 11:7    For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Jeremiah 44:16    “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

When you read God’s word do you look for warnings or just promises of blessings? They both go hand in hand. We are blessed when we commit to God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. We are blessed when we commit to honor, serve, glorify, worship, praise, follow, trust and obey Jesus Christ. God’s word speaks warnings and blessings but requires us to read it and want to hear it speak into our heart and mind. We get to choose if we hear it and allow it to permeate our heart and mind.

Time and time again we read of a generation of people and nations that either no longer seek God or they commit anew to seek and serve Him with humble heart and mind. Hezekiah saw the evil actions of Ahaz and what power the King had in leading people toward or away from God. He chose to commit to lead the people back to true worship of and commitment to God.

We need to be mindful of how easy it is to be lead away from God when our commitment is lukewarm. When we are lukewarm we seem to have an outward appearance of commitment but our ears are closed and our hunger and thirst for His speaking into and leading our lives is only with our lips and not with our heart and mind.

God knows and as well we know if our heart is being filled with an appetite and hunger for Him. We do well to examine our heart and what is residing in it. Commitment to honoring and living for Jesus Christ requires us to place Him first and always be mindful of our sinful nature and wandering away from Him. Staying in His word with a desire to be blameless and holy for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ will keep the door to our heart and mind open to hear Him speak and lead.

153. Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?

1Kings 15:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

And the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, “Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Isaiah 1:4     Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

Isaiah 30:9    For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;

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

Jeremiah 2:17    Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?

Do you ever wonder what would be said about our country, our leaders, or our individual lives in comparison to what is said in these verses? Are we a country that is led astray by our leaders? Is our leadership leading us toward sinning against God? Are we rebellious individuals and easily swayed by those who do not follow after God? Are we able to discern what is acceptable and right in the eyes of God or are we confusing what is culturally accepted as being right?

Leaders who tiptoe through and around Christianity are way more damaging than one who blatantly disregards God. Leaders who tiptoe seem to be able to smoothly talk through their lukewarm positions as though they are commandments from God. They easily lead others to these same thoughts and soon a nation thinks it is not wrong to abort babies, or it is wrong to speak of God publicly. Their moral compass is directed on paths that are culturally accepted. Nations are made of people who may blindly follow leaders. If these leaders are stiff-necked and always resisting God then soon the people will follow thinking this is normal and has to be right because everyone is doing it.

As Christians, we are not called to blindly follow leaders who try to water down Christianity. We are told to follow God with our whole heart, mind, and soul with our eyes and ears wide open to the word of God and leading of the Holy Spirit. This only happens when we are intentionally desiring and seeking to live in humble service and in and through God’s word we seek His leading in our lives so that we honor and glorify and follow and obey Him. The problem is when people lose their daily desire and no longer hunger and thirst for His word and leading. Their lives of obedience, reliance, and trust become a watered down soup of, at best, meaningless attempts at being good enough and at worst never even giving God a passing thought on most days.

Life is not to be lived in a void or daily vacuum apart from God. Intentionally choose to live each day serving and honoring God.