ON BEING STUBBORN (1)

I have often been stubborn, but generally not in the sense of Hebrews 4:7, where the author quotes David (Psalm 95:7-8) as saying: “If you hear God’s voice today, do not be stubborn.” Earlier in the chapter, the author of Hebrews comments on how God’s people, the Israelites, heard the good news [about a promised rest], but it did no good because they had no faith in what they heard.

The assumption is that God’s message is always meant to help us, to do us some good. But we play a part by interacting with that message and not being stubborn because we don’t like what we hear. We accept God’s message in faith, or we ignore it to our peril. It is not simply a matter of listening to God and saying, “Oh, yes, I see what He means,” because comprehension does not inevitably lead to action. 

One reason why action does not naturally follow God’s word is due to our stubbornness. When we are stubborn, we are inflexible, intractable, obstinate, opinionated, recalcitrant, self-willed, stiff-necked, unbending, and even bull-headed or pig-headed. We are headstrong and determined to do what we want and are unwilling to change our minds. In a general sense, we are therefore unrepentant.

None of us is always as bad as the adjectives I have listed, and most of us are sometimes as good as a few of their antonyms. But taken in truth, God has had to deal with stubborn people who insist upon their own opinions to such a degree that they cannot, will not, allow faith to diffuse their own beliefs and assumptions. For example, stubborn people may not believe that the universe was created by Jesus. Instead, they believe that what they see evolved out of what they discover. They cannot hear God’s warnings because they stubbornly refuse to believe God.

And, if being stubborn leads to such a terrible condition, what can we do about it? First, we must understand our natural condition. The main characteristic is that we are often inflexible, a trait which some Christians may consider a virtue. They equate themselves with the solid, unwavering, unchanging, immutable Word of God and its author. But of course, we are not God, unless we are our own idol, and we must change. If we have repented, we must pursue this act throughout our Christian lives. We need to continue to change, to become more like Christ, as outlined to us in the Scriptures. An inflexible spirit does not characterize Christ, who was visibly moved by people and events. 

When stubborn, we are not only inflexible in attitude but also become self-willed. We cannot be persuaded that God wants us to change, to become more and more like His Son, who was sent to save us and be an example for us.  

The stubbornness of the Israelites was such that God said they were a “stiff-necked” people. Any of us who have had a stiff neck can understand the metaphor. In this kind of obstinacy, it hurts to look around and is more comfortable to keep our head “locked” in one position. But being stationary causes additional problems: the flexibility and motion which are necessary to look around, to change one’s direction, are not used and we do not change.

Sometimes we become so strong-willed, so impervious to change, that we are bull-headed or, in another idiom, pig-headed. We are like animals who do not think. We are strong, sometimes unpredictable, always rushing madly along, guided by instinct, reaction, and wrath.

There is another aspect of stubbornness that is frightening. When we are stubborn, we become rebellious and unteachable. We turn against God, and we will no longer listen to what He has to say. When the Israelites built and worshipped the golden calf (Exodus 32), they demonstrated their rebellion and stubbornness. Likewise, when we build a golden calf in the form of our possessions and pride, we stop worshipping God and believe that our work, money, and ego can free us. What happened to the Israelites follows for all of us, and we end up in in an orgy of self-promotion. 

Stephen, in his speech before the council, summed it up when he said, “How stubborn you are”. They, like their ancestors, resisted the Holy Spirit and were deaf to God’s message.

If stubbornness is so persuasive, what are the remedies? We can learn something by examining how we deal with stubborn children. We want them to understand that they must obey, yet we do not want to hurt them physically or psychologically.

It is important that the child trusts the parents’ judgment and that he or she responds to their love. If the child cannot feel the love or believe that the parents have his or her interests at heart, it will be difficult for any suitable response. Stubbornness can be overcome by persistent love, although it may not seem that way at times.

Karl Franklin