Stubborn or Unyielding

I was thinking about how stubborn and unyielding I can be sometimes. This is not a trait I like to acknowledge, and I certainly do not want to be like Pharoah. He was one hard-hearted, stubborn soul. 

 

1.     Pharoah would not listen with the 1^st warning when Aaron’s staff became a snake

2.    Pharoah would not listen when the Nile, the streams, the canals, the reservoirs and all the waters turned to blood. The fish died and the water stank. 

3.    Pharoah would not listen when frogs covered the land, came into the palace, the bedrooms, ovens, and kneading troughs.

4.    Pharoah would not listen when all the dust of the land became gnats that got on the people and the animals.

5.    Pharoah weakened only somewhat when swarms of flies invaded the land, the palace, and the houses but his heart was still hard.

6.    Pharoah was unyielding even when a plague hit the livestock and the horses, donkeys, camels, and cattle died.

7.    Pharoah still did not listen when boils broke out among the people and the animals throughout the land.

8.    Pharoah’s heart was still hardened when the hail came and lightning flashed back and forth. The hail beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. 

9.    Before the next plague, Pharoah wanted to deal but only on his own terms so, once again, he did not listen and would not be humble. The locusts came and covered the ground; they devoured what little was left after the hail.

10 Pharoah still wanted to deal on his own terms when darkness descended and no one could see or move. 

11 Pharoah only agreed to listen when the final plague came; when every firstborn of both people and animal died. Still, the Pharoah wanted to undo his decision. He never really feared the Lord, for he sent his army to bring back God’s people, and that resulted in further disaster. 

 

       In my own defense, although I may be stubborn at times, I greatly respect and fear my Lord. I would have yielded at the snake. “God’s ways are better than my ways.” 

     I pray for those who are too stubborn and unyielding to acknowledge God, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I pray for those who wish to "go it alone" without God.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."