A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy.

Proverbs 29:1, NIV

As I write this article, I have a heating pad draped around my neck. I have had a pinched nerve that has bothered me for about two weeks now, and it got so bad last night that it woke me up with the pain. It has limited my mobility to the point that I have even had to stop picking up my sweet grandchildren as much as I am accustomed to doing. It has slowed me down from my work and it has made my leisure time less enjoyable. It's getting better now, but it has truly been a pain in the neck.

Have you ever had anything like that? You were going along just fine and then slowly and gradually one of your body parts just stopped working as well. It may have been a part that you hardly ever gave a moment's thought to, but now it is hard to do anything without being reminded how much you use it and how much you depend upon it. Anyone who has ever had back, hip or knee issues can relate.

During this time of pain and inconvenience (pity me!) I have begun to have a new appreciation for God's use of the phrase "stiff-necked" in relation to His children down through the ages. He expected them to be productive, but like a stiff neck, their productivity became vastly reduced. He expected them to enjoy and appreciate the wonderful blessings He had given them, but instead they received these blessings with something less than the thankfulness they should have displayed. In short, instead of being effective and grateful servants, they would become sluggish, ineffective and ungrateful.

And like my stiff neck, these stiff necked people began to take far more time in maintenance than they did in being useful for the purposes they were created. However, unlike my stiff neck, these stiff-necked people got this way out of sin and rebellion. They wanted to live their own life without any interference from God. They wanted to take part in sin without regard for His warnings. They critiqued His blessings and used His resources for their own selfish pursuits and sinful pleasures. And though God warned them time and time again that He would punish them, their response was all too often to chastise God's servants who would bring those messages of warning.

So God gave would eventually tire of their unchecked wickedness and send them a punishment that was so severe that it was without remedy. We can call to mind events like the great flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah to name but a few.

So what does all this have to do with us today? Just this: We are placed here on this earth to serve God - to the best of our ability and by using the resources that He has provided for us to do so. But we often forget the purpose of our existence and we begin to use all of His gifts and blessings for our own selfish pursuits and our own wicked pleasures, all the while complaining and murmuring about the quality and quantity of these blessings. And though God gives us sufficient warnings within His Word as to what will happen to us if we continue these foolish pursuits, our stiff necks often prevent us from turning our heads towards Him long enough to hear His pleas for our repentance. 

Just as important, our stiff-necked attitudes that result in refusing to serve the Master here on earth, even though we have the guarantee of manifold blessings for doing so, will be the same stiff-necked attitudes that could eventuate in losing the right to serve Him for all eternity in the paradise of Heaven. And if we are not careful, this stiff-necked posture before God will also result in the same loss of heaven for our loved ones some day. Instead, that Day will bring about the sudden and permanent destruction that has no possible remedy.

It's odd how something as simple as a stiff neck can wreak such consequences in our physical lives. But it does help us to see how important it is for us to not be stiff-necked in our response to God's invitation to His service. I know I have thought a lot about my stiff neck in recent weeks, and it has made me realize how important it is for me to rid myself of that particular ailment in my own service to God and Christ. How about you?