By the time the Israelites reached Canaan and prepared to enter the promised land, it was abundantly clear that God did not choose them because they were wonderful people. In fact, God told Moses to tell the Israelites, you are a stiff-necked people. (Ex. 33:5b NKJV)
Moses repeated the phrase again when he gave his farewell to the Israelites: understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deut. 9:6)
Stiff-necked means obstinate—unwilling to receive correction. The Israelites qualified because there were many times when they resisted God—refused to receive His Word. Nevertheless, they were God’s people.
There is a remedy for us when we are stiff-necked. We can ask God to give us wisdom. Wisdom includes bowing our necks before God, it moves us away from being rigid to being pliable. Wisdom brings us into a new attitude.
We will never be happy if we are stiff-necked, but Proverbs tells us, Happy is the man who finds wisdom. (Prov. 3:13a)
Originally published April 11, 1986.
Picture: Viewed from the street, West Fargo, 2009. Photo by Solveig
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