Stubborn

SCRIPTURE:  Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ Deuteronomy 29:18-19 ESV

THOUGHT: Sometimes you run across verses that you don’t really want to study, but they have begun to study you, and won’t leave you alone. This is conviction. And it’s why we have to continue to study Scripture broadly – because it invites the self-examination we need. It’s easy to look at all I’m doing “right,” and begin to bless myself in my heart, saying “Oh, I’m safe, even though I’m still stubbornly holding onto this thing.” It’s also easier to look at the “stuff” in others’ lives and make myself feel better by comparison.

Thousands of years ago, Moses was warning the people of God about this very human temptation: there is stubbornness in the human heart, and it’s like a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit. Like our forefathers before us, it sends us into hiding from God. But God comes looking, hallelujah, for missing people.

Micah had a way of looking at sin that has become a part of my own spiritual journey. Rather than fearing exposure in my places of stubbornness; rather than running away to hide in guilt, I run toward God: “I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication (Micah 7:9).”

I love that verse. How amazing that the same one who created the rules for our flourishing, can both bring the light of judgement and plead our cause. With all the saints of old, we will see vindication when we run to the light rather than away.

PRAYER: Oh God, help me not try to dignify my own depravity wherever it shows itself. Go down deep and root out those roots that grow the poisonous and bitter fruit of stubbornness. Help me, oh God as I run to you, not away.