Stubborn or Strong?
A few years ago, our entire family sat down and did a personality assessment test. I’d done one before, but we’d never thought to do one as a family. This test happened to be the DISC profile. Each letter of the acronym DISC describes a different personality type. While each person has a combination of styles, learning your most dominant quality is usually helpful, and always entertaining.As we went around the table after calculating our results, everything began to become just a little bit clearer. Every member of my family fell into the D category. D stands for dominance. All of a sudden, I realized why it’s often frustrating to find a place to eat that we all agree on. It explains some sibling rivalry. It explains some previous headaches. There’s no shortage of leadership, focus, determination, or strong opinions in the Conlee household! Depending on how you look at it, this means we’re either a really strong bunch or a really stubborn bunch. My guess? We’re a beautifully messy combination of both.As I was recently in Deuteronomy 10, I began to see these concepts of strength and stubbornness through the eyes of the Lord toward His children, the Israelites. The Israelites definitely lived up to the billing of being stubborn… 40 years’ worth of stubbornness, in fact. Yet in Deuteronomy 10:16-18, when God calls upon the Israelites to give up their stubborn streak, He does it in a way that only God would do.
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.
When you think about who God is and how Moses describes Him, the stubbornness of the Israelites is almost laughable. The Lord’s power and renown are beyond measure. The thought that the Israelites would choose not to follow God’s every word is complete stupidity. And yet each of us can find places in our lives where we’ve stubbornly refused to follow God’s ways.Anything come to mind? Where are you unwilling to forgive? … unwilling to love? … unwilling to obey? Where are you currently being stubborn?Instead of being stubborn one day longer, what would happen if you traded in your stubbornness for strength?[bctt tweet="What would happen if you traded in your stubbornness for strength?"]Just a few verses later, the author of Deuteronomy lists several ways in which God has visibly demonstrated His power and strength on behalf of the Israelites. From parting the Red Sea to swallowing the sons of Eliab, the Israelites have seen the power of God. Now he asks them to exercise that strength.
You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.Deuteronomy 11:8-9
He asks them to be strong and take possession of the land, but don’t miss the how. They would have the strength to overcome the enemy and possess the Promised Land if they followed the Lord’s commandments… specifically, “the whole commandment.”We can be stubborn and stay in the wilderness doing things our way… or we can follow His commandments and experience the Promised Land. Your choice: stubborn or strong?