1Thus the LORD said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist. 3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4“Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me. 6And it came about after many days that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” 7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.
8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9“Thus says the LORD, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10‘This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband, which is totally worthless. 11‘For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.’ (Jeremiah 13:1-11, NASB 1977)
8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9“Thus says the LORD, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10‘This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband, which is totally worthless. 11‘For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.’ (Jeremiah 13:1-11, NASB 1977)
Stubbornness will ruin you and make you unfit to fulfill God's purposes. It is refusal to hear biblical truth and implement it. The work of stubbornness builds over time: the longer you refuse, the more that soul-rot takes over. As your soul unravels, you begin seeking satisfaction from sources other than the Lord.
Here is your weekly protein.
1. Answer these questions.
- Where is stubbornness evident in your life?
- Why do you continue in stubbornness? (What do you hope to accomplish by refusing to listen?)
- Do you see that stubbornness is spiritual self-sabotage?
2. Read these Bible verses and record what each says about stubbornness.
- 1 Samuel 15:23
- Jeremiah 7:24
- Proverbs 29:1
- Acts 7:51
3. If you have the courage, ask someone who knows you well to answer this question: "Where do you see stubbornness in my life?"
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