Have you ever woken up with a crick in your neck? I suppose most of us have at one time or another. It is painful, and for a lot of the day, we cannot move our heads very much. When I have a crick, I try to work out the soreness and stiffness by stretching and moving it as much as possible.
There are many times in the Bible the Israelites are called a stiff-necked people. In the New Testament Stephen calls the people about to stone him stiff-necked.
So what does that mean? It means stubborn and arrogant.
How does that relate to us, you might ask? There are many times we are stubborn especially toward God and His plan for us. We want to do things our way. We want to fix everything. Instead, we need to put all our faith, hope, and trust in Him. His way is always better. He will fix everything in His own time if we wait and pray.
Like when we have a crick in our necks, when we are being stiff-necked, we need to stretch ourselves to look for what God is doing. It takes time for that crick to get better, and so it takes time for God to work in our lives. God doesn’t work in time like we do, and it is hard to be patient. But we must be the opposite of stiff-necked – yielding, submissive, and humble.
Stretch that neck out today and rely on God to work for you. Wait on Him and our strength will rise!
Be humble as we watch and wait on Him.