ROMANS 2:5

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” 

I’ve known some pretty stubborn people in my lifetime. I won’t name any names – you know who you are, lol. Being stubborn normally doesn’t get you what you want. It just makes everyone around you avoid you and go the other direction when they see you coming. We’ve all seen pictures of someone trying to move a donkey that has decided it was done with walking. That’s the picture of stubbornness.

The Greek word used by Paul here for “stubbornness” is only used right here in the whole New Testament. The word can mean hardness or callousness. Paul uses it here to portray a spiritual condition. You could say that these people were hard-hearted. I am reminded of Pharoah who hardened his heart against the Hebrew people. I know no one reading this devotional blog today wants to be like that.

APPLICATION

Psalm 95:8 gives us a similar thought. “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,” Remember that story? This is where the people were complaining about not having any water. It’s also the place where Moses struck the rock God had appointed instead of just speaking to it, as God had instructed. One person’s stubbornness can lead others to sin. Moses’ failure to do exactly as the Lord instructed cost him the Promised Land.

We also find hardness or stubbornness mentioned in Hebrews 3:13. This is not the same word used in Romans 2:5, but it comes from the same root word. “But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called ‘today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin can harden our hearts. Sin can make us stubborn and callous to correction.

Are you being stubborn right now about something the Lord has told you to confess? Maybe He has told you to do something, but you are bowing up to Him about it. You won’t find stubbornness listed anywhere as a fruit of the Spirit. Allow yourself to be molded into the shape God wants. Then you can be His useable vessel, not some hard, cracked pot.

Father God, help me shed any pride or stubbornness that keeps me from being all You want me to be.

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