HARDHEADED AND STUBBORN

PROCLAMATION

“This is what The Lord says, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: ‘I am The Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.  If only you had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.  Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains …”  Isaiah 48:17-19 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

After offering a call to salvation to the Gentiles in chapter forty-six, The Lord God speaks through the prophet Isaiah and predicts the fall of Babylon in chapter forty-seven of The Bible Book of Isaiah.  He said that they did wrong to the people of Israel and now nothing can save them from the wrath of God. (Isaiah 47:5-15)  Then, in chapter forty-eight He addresses the stubborn remnant of the line of Judah and tells them that He warned them, but they were hardheaded and would not listen to Him. (Isaiah 48:3-4)  The Lord God tells them that He teaches them that which is best for them and directs them in the way that they should go, but they did not pay attention to Him. (Isaiah 48:17-19)

APPLICATION

We all are blessed by The Lord God daily in more ways than we can count.  However, we miss out on many more conditional blessings because we do not obey God’s commands.  We have read The Bible and have heard it preached, but all too often we don’t obey God’s Holy Word.  We are stubborn and hardheaded, and we want to do things our own way.  Our hard head results in our punishments.  I am sure that your mother told you, just like my mother told me, that “A hard head makes for a soft (you know what).”  Our life here on earth would be so much better if we would listen to The Lord and do what He says. (Isaiah 48:18)