“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” [2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV]
I have been in six, yes six, automobile accidents—none of which were my fault. I have been hit from behind three times, once t-boned on the driver’s side, once on the passenger side, and I have t-boned a woman who made an illegal left turn in front of me on an overpass. Each one of those accidents gave me whiplash.
I now have cervical disk degeneration and have had physical therapy on my neck several times. All I can say is that it pops, crackles and snaps when I move it, it hurts most of the time and it is stiff. I am a stiff-necked person. Because of that stiffness, I have trouble turning my head very far to the right or left. I usually must turn my shoulders rather than my neck. I think I understand what God meant when He called people “stiff-necked.” They cannot turn.
Yet, turning is exactly what repentance is, turning away from the direction we are heading and turning back toward Him. God is calling his “stiff-necked” people to repent, to turn around from the wrong direction, that self-generated direction, and face Him fully and completely.
It means turning away from “our way” which we have elevated to super-star status and surrendering to His Way through the power of His Holy Spirit. It means getting out of our comfortable chairs and hitting our knees to find out where He wants to go, and then it means going with Him.
Isaiah 48:17: “This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.” [HCSB]
Father, forgive us “our way,” and lead us in the Your Way Everlasting. We surrender to Your Will. Amen.