Hard Headed

You need to call Dad now, she chided, unable to hide the uneasiness in her voice. I’ll be fine once you get me home, I replied, not entirely convinced myself but determined to tough it out. My right knee has given me problems most of my life, catching, for lack of a better word, usually while I’m kneeling or sitting with my legs curled under me. On Wednesday this week, as I sat enjoying a meal between my two grandchildren, I stood to reach for a napkin and this troublesome appendage locked entirely.

After regaining my seat, I waited for it to pass as it always does to no avail. My son and daughter supported me bodily from the restaurant. I was unable to put any weight on my right foot, and I couldn’t find a comfortable position at rest. Still I stubbornly insisted I’d be fine.

How many times have I stubbornly insisted on my own way? According to Merriam-Webster, stubborn implies sturdiness in resisting change which may or may not be admirable. Obstinate implies unreasonable persistence, while mulish implies a thoroughly unreasonable obstinacy. These ever-increasing degrees of stubbornness stem from our own pride, our fear of being proved wrong, and just general hard-headed willfulness. However, God consistently calls it a heart problem rather than a head problem.

“But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me!

For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn.

But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are.

I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock!

So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.”

Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first.

Listen to them carefully for yourself.

Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’

Do this whether they listen to you or not.””

Ezekiel 3:7-11 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/ezk.3.7-11.NLT

The ten tribes of the northern kingdom, Israel, were already exiles in Babylon. Ezekiel, also taken into captivity by the Babylonians, received visions of God on His throne with messages for His people. God’s call required him to speak to a hard-hearted people who would not listen to him for they were completely rebellious.(Ezekiel 2:7) Their rebellion was not against the prophet, but against God, just like earlier in scripture when Israel demanded a king like the other nations from the prophet, Samuel.

““Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance.

“Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you.

They don’t want me to be their king any longer.

Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods.

And now they are giving you the same treatment.”

1 Samuel 8:5-8 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/1sa.8.7.NLT

God commanded Ezekiel to speak, promising to give him the words to say and to loose his tongue only when His message came, and God also held Ezekiel accountable, putting him under penalty of death if he did not faithfully deliver God’s messages. (Ezekiel 3:18,27)

However, first Ezekiel was commanded to take to heart all God’s instructions. Let all my words sink deep into your own heart first, God says. Listen to them carefully for yourself, then go to your people. We cannot give what we have not received, taken possession of, owned. God’s Word is first for me. I cannot write to you what I have not first learned from God. I cannot offer convincing proofs if my life, my actions and reactions, don’t align with what I claim to believe. My credibility rests in my own obedience to God and His Word.

““Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel.

Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately.

If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins.

And I will hold you responsible for their deaths.

If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins.

But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.

“If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die.

And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins.

None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.

But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.””

Ezekiel 3:17-21 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/ezk.3.17-21.NLT

On Wednesday, I swallowed my pride and heeded my daughter’s advice to ask for help. I called my husband and admitted I was scared, afraid that I had a more serious injury than I realized. He gave me instructions to follow and although they required me to change everything about my plans for the remainder of the week, I am now on the mend. X-rays, an MRI scan and two doctors visits later, I was diagnosed with a torn- shredded really- lateral meniscus requiring arthroscopic surgery to repair. Had I not listened to my daughter and called my husband, he would have eventually seen my predicament and pointed me in this same direction, but I would still be in pain, still unable to use my right leg today, and possibly creating a worse injury for myself.

“God’s forbearance (whether then or now) must ultimately issue either in transformation or in judgment.”

For The Love Of God: Day 260 • Devotional provided by The Gospel Coalition

https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/786/day/260?segment=0

Hard-headedness has a positive side. Dogged. Tenacious. Persistent. Marked by stubborn determination toward a difficult goal in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Ezekiel was obedient to the call of God even though he knew going in that the people would not listen. Our individual calls from God are as diverse as our various locations and personalities and Holy Spirit imbued giftings, but each one is part of the ultimate call of God on the life of every believer.

“And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved.

But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

Mark 16:15-16 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.16.15-16.NLT

“Now, since we are God’s coworkers, we beg you not to take God’s marvelous grace for granted, allowing it to have no effect on your lives.

For he says, I listened to you at the time of my favor.

And the day when you needed salvation, I came to your aid.

So can’t you see?

Now is the time to respond to his favor!

Now is the day of salvation!”

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 TPT

https://bible.com/bible/1849/2co.6.1-2.TPT