Stubbornness

Before we believed in Jesus, we were all stubborn people. We had a hard heart of stone that was not according to God. We liked sin, loved the world, and desired things that didn’t please God. But when we trusted in Christ, our heart of stone was replaced with a heart that was tender to God (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26). Our desires changed, and we began to prioritize God and yield to his word and Spirit.

It is important for us to maintain a soft heart before God and not allow it to become rocky or hard again.

Throughout history, God’s people have often developed a hard or stony heart. They resisted God’s prophets (Zechariah 7:11-13). They made their hearts like a hard stone against God’s word (Jeremiah 44:16-17). They defended their sin and didn’t want to repent. They became stiff-necked and stubborn.

The Bible says stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry (1 Samuel 15:23). Stubbornness is iniquity because it is sin, evil, trouble, and causes sorrow. Stubbornness is idolatry because it exalts self over God. A stubborn person says that he knows what is best. He wants to follow his own ways rather than God’s ways.

Stubborn King Saul

One of the most stubborn people in the Bible was king Saul. Once God told Saul to destroy the Amalekites, but he did not do so. He kept the best of the spoil of Amalek alive because he felt like it (1 Samuel 15). 

Stubborn people have difficulty obeying orders, submitting to leadership, or following instructions. This is because they think they know better than others.

After disobeying God, Saul rushed and offered a sacrifice. He should have waited for the prophet Samuel, but he thought it didn’t matter. He felt he was an important guy and he should be able to do as he pleased. Then Saul built a monument to himself. Stubborn people are proud. 

When confronted with his sin, Saul boasted of what he had done. He was blind to his faults. He tried to justify himself with religious excuses. He said that his disobedience was actually “for God,” and that he kept the spoil to offer a sacrifice to God.

When the prophet rebuked him, Saul began to argue. Stubborn people are argumentative because they want to prove that they are right. Saul said that his disobedience wasn’t his fault, that it was the fault of the people. They were the ones who wanted to keep all the spoil. Saul tried to justify himself by blaming others; he didn’t want to take responsibility for his sin.

Saul played the victim. 

“You just don’t understand the situation.”

“I did the best I could.”

“It’s not my fault, it’s someone else’s fault. They made me do it!”

“It was out of my control.”

Rather than take responsibility for his actions and repent of his sin, stubborn people cling onto their sin because of perceived victimhood.

Moreover, Saul feared the people. When a person is stubborn, he will be afraid of what others think about him. Stubborn people fear man because they idolize themselves and want to be seen as great.

“He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1).

God had no choice but to reject Saul from being king. 

Saul spiraled downhill. He was attacked by evil spirits. He engaged in witchcraft. He sought to kill God’s people.

Stubborn people resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51). They are stiff-necked. They won’t bow or bend. They refuse to get under the yoke to submit to God. 

Stubborn Mules

A stubborn person is like a mule (Psalm 32:9). When a mule is stubborn, it won’t move forward. It’s supposed to go, but it won’t. It just stands still. At other times, the mule goes off in its own. It has its own ideas about what to do.

A stubborn mule needs a bit. A bit is a small rod in the mouth that is used to direct a mule through pain. The bit jabs the sensitive parts of the mouth and forces the mule in a certain direction.

God wants us to respond to the leading of his Holy Spirit. He wants us to be soft and tender. He wants us to follow his gentle leading, because he has good plans for us. He wants to lead us to green pastures and still waters. God doesn’t want us to be stubborn and require painful correction in order to get to the right path.

We need to search our hearts and allow God to cleanse us from all stubbornness. 

How can we know our own hearts?

We can’t, for the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Only God knows the reality of our own hearts. We need God to search our hearts and know what is in us. We need him to uncover what is inside us.

God will search the intents and thoughts of our hearts through his word (Hebrews 4:12). The word of God is alive and can separate between our thoughts and God’s thoughts. It can divide between our souls and the Holy Spirit’s voice within us. Then we will be able to hear God more clearly, and we will be able to give up our own selfish desires.

Let us break up the fallow ground of our hearts (Hosea 10:12). Let’s be tender before God. When we hear God’s words, let’s not harden our hearts.

God wants to bless us. He wants to fill us with good things. For this to happen, we must not be stubborn.