He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Prov. 29:1).
This might be called a negative promise, a warning, but it is one to which we all need to take heed. God sends His warning to us again and again and again, sometimes by the direct reproof of a passage of Scripture, and sometimes through an impression by His Spirit, or by the word of a friend, by an accident, by an illness.
Those who reject or neglect all the divine reproofs so graciously sent in these various ways finally find themselves outside God's special protection; and sometimes even the strong words of God Himself are unavailing to win them back to righteousness. "I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth," we read in Hosea 6:5. Those referred to would not turn to God. They hardened their necks against Him. Therefore, we read in verse 11, "he hath set an harvest" for them. And what a terrible harvest it is, for "their own doings have beset them" (Hosea 7:2). The harvest is terrible because the unrepentant heart reaps its own harvest, its own destruction, its own remediless end. "And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off" (Ps. 94:23).
"Hardening of the neck" or its equivalent is a phrase used several times in the Scripture to represent stubbornness, deliberate rebellion against the Word and work of God. But there is a remedy for all those who will turn, all those who will listen to the Word of God. "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye" (Eze. 18:32).
Christ is the only remedy, Christ upon the cross, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved" (Ps. 80:3).
This might be called a negative promise, a warning, but it is one to which we all need to take heed. God sends His warning to us again and again and again, sometimes by the direct reproof of a passage of Scripture, and sometimes through an impression by His Spirit, or by the word of a friend, by an accident, by an illness.
Those who reject or neglect all the divine reproofs so graciously sent in these various ways finally find themselves outside God's special protection; and sometimes even the strong words of God Himself are unavailing to win them back to righteousness. "I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth," we read in Hosea 6:5. Those referred to would not turn to God. They hardened their necks against Him. Therefore, we read in verse 11, "he hath set an harvest" for them. And what a terrible harvest it is, for "their own doings have beset them" (Hosea 7:2). The harvest is terrible because the unrepentant heart reaps its own harvest, its own destruction, its own remediless end. "And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off" (Ps. 94:23).
"Hardening of the neck" or its equivalent is a phrase used several times in the Scripture to represent stubbornness, deliberate rebellion against the Word and work of God. But there is a remedy for all those who will turn, all those who will listen to the Word of God. "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye" (Eze. 18:32).
Christ is the only remedy, Christ upon the cross, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved" (Ps. 80:3).
RSS Feed
