Amos Chapter 5. Stubbornness Part II.
Again God addressed His people to repent. He's calling for justice and righteousness. He wants nothing to do with their “religious gatherings” because their hearts are far from him. Three times God says, “Seek me and live,” otherwise face his wrath. They were told to hate evil and love good.
But Israel continues to be stubborn people and don't obey God. What really is stubbornness?
To choose to be stubborn is to put self above others or put your ego or pride above the demands of others. For examples:
1. When someone tells you that you shouldn't drive in the bad weather, then you let your ego get in the way rather than respect the love of the person who said that. No, your ego has to get in the way and now you're more determined to drive in the bad weather because “you don't like to be told what to do”! Seriously? It sounds childish when I think about it. Sadly, we all do it.
2. Perhaps, your peers are not a positive influence but rather influence you negatively. Their influence draws you away from the Lord rather than closer to him. Your parent or loved one says they don't want you hanging out with that crowd anymore.
“WELL, NOW, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” Even if the advice is good advice, the person still becomes stubborn because in reality they don't want to have to change what they're doing. They want to stay in sin. They don't want to have to repent and get right with God.
What's even crazier is that they blame their being stubbornness on the person demanding righteousness. It's their fault.
Excuse me! If you're stubborn it's because you choose to be stubborn. No one makes you! Let's stop the blame game and take responsibility for our own actions.
In reality, God demands from us holiness. It's throughout all Scripture: Old Testament and New testament. Are we going to blame him for our stubbornness because he's demanding righteousness and Holiness from us? See how far that gets you.
We blame our parents for us being stubborn, or we blame our spouse or friend or our enemy!
Stubbornness in the Bible occurs when there's a battle between selfishness or one's pride. It opposes others and exalts self!
Stubbornness can also be a control issue. I'm not going to do what you said because then I feel like I'm letting you have control and I want to be in control of every situation or of every person. This goes back to the issue of one's pride or ego.
Three times God asked the Israelites to seek him and hate evil and love good. Usually if somebody has to tell me to do something three times it means that I'm not listening. If we put this into practice and really did seek God while loving good and hating evil, then we wouldn't have to worry so much about being so stubborn.