Overcoming Stubbornness

Stubbornness was a sin that hindered God’s people throughout history. Because of Israel’s stubbornness, they were hindered from fulfilling their purpose and blocked from entering the Promised Land. God said, “I have seen this people, it is a stiffnecked people” (Exodus 32:9). God called his own people stiffnecked. We don’t want to be stubborn and stiff-necked like ancient Israel.

Proverbs 29:1 says, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Stubbornness has severe consequences and leads to destruction. We want to avoid that.
In the Bible, stubbornness is compared to having a stiff neck. This is a picture that comes from oxen. An ox-driver has a stick with which he prods the neck of the ox to get him to turn in a different direction. When the ox does not turn in response to poking his neck with a stick, it is said that he has a stiff neck. 

The ox goad is a symbol of the leadings or nudgings of the Holy Spirit. When God wants us to change course, he will nudge us to do so. When we refuse to move in that direction, we are stubborn and have a stiff neck. Having a stiff neck is a picture of not being willing to change and follow God. It means that we want to go in our own way and not God’s way. Stubbornness often is revealed in response to instruction or correction. Instruction from an authority is given, and it is resisted; or a rebuke is given, and it is rejected. This is stubbornness. 

In the Old Testament, Israel was often stubborn. They refused to walk in God’s way; they just wanted to walk in their own way. This was because their hearts were hard. “They made their hearts harder than flint” (Zech. 7:12). God or a prophet would tell them to do something, and they would refuse. They would make up their own way of doing things rather than following God’s way.

God said his people were like a stubborn cow (Hos. 4:16). To get a stubborn cow to go where you want it to go is very difficult. 

In the wilderness, God told Israel to go into the Promised Land. He said it was a good land and that they would be blessed there. They refused to go. They said that they would be killed, that God wouldn’t take care of them, and that they wanted to go back to Egypt. This shows their stubbornness. As a result of being stubborn and refusing to do what God said, God told them he was going to kill them. Stubbornness has consequences. They were frightened to hear this, so then they changed their minds and said they would go to the Promised Land after all. God told them not to go now, that it was too late, but they decided to go anyway. They got up early in the morning, and began going to the Promised Land. Then they were attacked by their enemies and killed (Num. 14:39-45). 

First, God told them to go, and they refused. Then God told them not to go, and they went. They did what they wanted to do, not what God wanted. They were stubborn.
Israel trusted in themselves more than they trusted in God. They filtered their instructions from God through their own minds. They wanted to do what they wanted to do, and if God told them to do something they didn’t want to do, then they wouldn’t do it.  Stubborn people exalt themselves over God.

Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 says three times, “Today, if you hear his voice, don’t harden your heart.” A hard heart produces stubbornness. It refuses to do what God wants. We need a soft heart to hear God’s word and obey it.

God told King Saul to kill the Amalekites and all that they had because they were a very wicked nation. Saul refused. He kept the Amalekite king alive along with the best of their livestock. The prophet Samuel told Saul that he had disobeyed God. Saul’s response reveals the lies of stubborn people.

1. Denial. Saul said that he did actually obey God. He denied being disobedient.
2. Self-justification. Saul said he disobeyed God for a good reason – to sacrifice something to God.
3. Blame. Saul blamed others. He blamed the people for his disobedience.

A stubborn person will deny they have a problem. When presented with irrefutable evidence, they will try to justify themselves. And then when that doesn’t work they will blame others.
Samuel told Saul that stubbornness is like idolatry. It’s like idolatry because it exalts something over God and disobeys God because something else is more important than God. 

A stubborn person resists authority. He has difficulty in following instructions. He is set on doing his own thing. He has a hard heart. When he is rebuked or corrected, he lashes out. 

Stubbornness has bad results. It leads to destruction. It causes the loss of position and ability to fulfill one’s calling. It blocks forward progress in God. It stores up wrath from God (Rom. 2:5). 

We need to eliminate stubbornness from our lives in order to fulfill God’s plan. We can do this with the help of the Holy Spirit. The best way to get rid of stubbornness is to repent. When we repent, we change course. This is the opposite of being stiffnecked, and it is God’s will for our lives. When God tells us to do something, we need to repent and do it.

We need humility and a soft heart in order to receive direction and instructions from God. We must keep our heart tender before the Lord. We must pay attention to the conviction and leading of the Holy Spirit. Don’t ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you ignore him too much, you will lose the ability to hear his voice and then your conscience will become hardened. But as you stay sensitive to his leading, you will walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

As we eliminate stubbornness from our lives, we will become God’s faithful servants who obey him above ourselves. Then God can do his mighty works through us.