Stiffnecked

Jan 31st, 2023 Stiffnecked

Today’s Passage – Exodus 33 – 35 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Luke 17 – 18; Proverbs 31; Psalms 1 – 5 (Jump start on February because it is a short month)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – 1 John 3:1

Read the “0131 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read previous post from today’s reading passage – “Willing Servants,” and “Beaming.”

“….for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. 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: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” (‭‭Exodus‬ ‭33‬:‭3‬ – ‭5)‬‬‬

Reading this chapter brought back some memories of me as a six year old boy at my great-grandmother’s house and hearing her say, Gerald you are so hardheaded!!

We see the Lord upset with the children of Israel, and it’s not his first time nor will be his last that He has been grieved by them and it’s just amazing that He never just destroyed every last one of them… but can’t the same thing be said about us?

We cannot talk enough about the mercy of God!

The Bible says that we are “but dust.” Know what that means? It means we are NOTHING!

Just take a second and think about how often we grieve our God. Too many saved, children of God, like myself that live like this. Why? Why are we so full of ourselves that we think we know better than the KNOWER of all things!?

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. (James 4:6)

So flippantly we say Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, and we know that means we are born again, but is He LORD of us? Do we live like He is? Is He Master? Does He call ALL the shots? Or does the creature know more than the Creator?!

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭46‬)

Why do we walk around living a life that screams to God, “I got it!” We live as though we were entitled to salvation or for some reason were worthy of it! We act as though we deserve to be treated a certain way in this world, when you take a step back and think about how we will never receive what we truly deserve. It ought to stop you in your tracks!

Hey every day outside of hell is a good day, NO MATTER WHAT! Without Christ, we are nothing. He is the only thing that makes us special.

We read a lot about the children of Israel and their fickleness, but we must be careful not to look our noses down at them because far too often we are guilty of the same inconsistencies. Think about the things we complain about so much in others that we do ourselves. We look at other “dirt clods” and cast them down, and promote ourselves to better, when at the end of the day, we’re all just dirt.

We must get honest with who we truly are and where we lack spiritually and do something about it.

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬)‭

Look Is He worthy of our absolute total trust in Him or not? Has He not proven countless times the obvious answer? Has our flesh proven that it’s not worth trusting with any moment of our lives, yet which do we yield to more ?

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John‬ ‭3‬:‭30‬)