Issue 674 – Stubborn Disobedience – March 5, 2022
I was prowling the web looking for some of the lost issues of Gleanings from the first 10 years. Most were lost when the backup hard drive was corrupted. Every now and then I stumble across one and recover it.
I have taken the issue I found from 2002 and reworked it for today because the truth is still relevant.
Had you been a Gleanings reader in 2002, you would have known about my dog. She was kind of hard to describe, her mother was a border collie, and her father was a basset hound. She had the coat and many of the features of a collie, but the long heavy body and short legs of a basset.
Genni, the wonder dog (short for Genesis), had two distinct modes of operation. There was a border collie mode and a basset mode. Nothing could deter her when she got her mind set into basset mode; she was as stubborn as a hound on a scent.
One evening she went into basset mode. I told her to get her blanket.
She thought retrieving anything was a dumb game, but she would usually comply once. If I threw her Frisbee, she would bring it back once. If I threw it again, she gave me a look like, “Why did you throw it away again?” Then she would go over to the Frisbee and chew on it but would not bring it back.
It was pretty much the same with anything we threw. There was definitely no retriever blood in Genni’s veins.
But back to the blanket. Genni, the wonder dog, decided she wouldn’t get it. No amount of incentive, cajoling and nagging could get her to bring it to me.
On occasion, she would lay on it and look at me like, “Now, are you happy?”
She would return and give me her “I love you, boss” look. She would come back and roll over in submission, acknowledging that I was boss, but she would not bring the blanket.
I still loved her at the end of the evening (I never did get the blanket), but I was frustrated.
I wonder if sometimes that’s how God feels with us. We say we believe, we might try something one, we acknowledge Him as Saviour, but sometimes we get our back up and will not do what He tells us.
We choose not to forgive someone. We ignore God’s warnings to give up a behaviour or attitude. We don’t tell people about Him even when Holy Spirit is almost screaming in our ear. We will not do it.
He still loves and forgives us, but what pain do we cause Him? I wonder what beautiful blessings we miss out on because of our stubborn hearts.
The people of Israel had stubborn hearts, and it cost them dearly.
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, Hebrews 3:7
While the immediate context of this verse refers to the issue of salvation, it is a principle that even applies to believers. Many in Israel chose stubborn disobedience, and it cost them everything. When we disobey, we can lose out on blessings that might have been ours.
What are you missing because of a hardened, stubborn heart? Will you give in today and obey, or will you choose to continue to disobey?
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Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed.
Kevin.
Gleanings From The Word.
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)
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All contents are © 2001, 2022 K. F. “Kevin” Corbin and Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV). Spelling modified to Canadian English as required.
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