The older you get, the more set in your ways you become. That is not entirely a bad thing. With age comes more responsibility, and creating habits that reduce time and effort can be beneficial to balancing family and work. Where it can run into trouble is when we become stubborn in our ways. When something isn’t working, and we refuse to change there can be serious fallout. That is where Israel found itself in the time of King Hezekiah.
2 Chronicles 30:8
“Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the LORD and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you.”
Done What is Right in Their Own Eyes
Israel had forsaken the Passover feast, and King Hezekiah was summoning the whole country to come and celebrate it. He was also proclaiming that they get back to doing it on an annual basis. The people had become stiff-necked, which means stubborn, in their worship of the Lord. They had gone and done what was right in their own eyes and weren’t making atonement for their sins. Hezekiah was calling them back to serving the Lord so that the anger would turn away from them.
Stubborn in Our Ways
It is very easy to get caught up in doing our own thing and forsake our worship to the Lord. Family events and job responsibilities can crowd our schedule, and all of it has good purposes, but they can also crowd out our time with the Lord. When we stop worshipping, we stop turning to Jesus for what we need. We stop repenting of our sins, and soon the distance between Him and us is considerable. That is where Israel found itself, and it is a trap we can fall into as well.
Consecrate Yourself
We need to consecrate ourselves. That means we need to spiritually cleanse ourselves and set ourselves apart from the things of the world and dedicate ourselves to the Lord’s service. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can do both. It never works out. You will always feel pulled in opposite directions. Make your worship of the Lord the top priority in your life. Yield to Jesus and serve Him with all of your heart.