Jeremiah 44:16: “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!”

November 12th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We recognize stubbornness when we see it because we have all been there ourselves. Notice that the people blatantly said, “we will not listen to you!” They offer no excuses or blame shifting; they simply admit that they are just willful in their stubborn disobedience toward God—willful disobedience. What a scary place to be, when we have hardened our hearts against God so much that we no longer even try to justify our stubbornness. God wants us to stay soft and pliable in our relationship with Him so that He does not have to discipline our lives.

We see ourselves in the humorous, old story of the village blacksmith, who had a young son who was very strong-willed and always wanted to push the limits. One morning, when the blacksmith was forging new horseshoes, the boy came to take a look at them. “That’s close enough!” the blacksmith warned his son. “Those are still hot.” After a few minutes, the young boy inched closer to the shoes that were cooling on the steel-topped bench. “Son, those are too hot to handle. Don’t touch them!” the father scolded. Finally when he wasn’t looking, the boy inched up to the finished horseshoes, grabbed one, and then dropped it immediately, shaking his hands about. “See what happens when you are not satisfied with what I tell you! You got burnt didn’t you?” In quiet stubbornness, the boy replied, “No sir, it just didn’t take me long to look at them.”

“LORD, we desire to serve You by being pliable in your hands today.”