The title of this post comes from The Bible Recap video for Exodus 36-37.
God was with the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. This was after they sinned against him! But Moses pled on their behalf (hear my thoughts on this here).
This week, I conversed with someone on social media about God pulling us in, breaking our hearts and implanting faith into us. God leads the path to our salvation. (Here my thoughts on this here.)
But hearing Tara Leigh Cobbler talk about God being with people who are stiffnecked brought this to a whole new level for me.
Because I am stiffnecked.
My nature is rebellious.
But even without any intentional enmity, my nature is independent. I’m not someone who would have gone looking for God. I need Him to humble me, give me faith, and work through me.
I’m the stiffnecked person who couldn’t come to God on my own.
I needed Him to lead the way, to humble me with afflictions, and to implant His faith and goodness into my heart.
(It was interesting when I posted a testimony on Facebook about God humbling me and speaking to me in my pain, and somebody responded “My life is great! What’s so hard about yours?” hmm… autoimmune illness, two autistic kids, several ADHD kids, anxiety, depression, loneliness….nothing much.)
Watch the videos I linked to above, but here’s my ongoing compilation of Bible scriptures that show God works on us, God implants the “broken heart and contrite spirit in us,” God is 100% the author of our salvation from start to finish:
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
Phil 1:29 “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”
2 Cor 1:21 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
2 Cor 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
John 3:27 “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven”
Exodus 33:18 “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
Jude 1:24-25 “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy”
As Martin Luther said when asked what he contributed to his salvation, “Sin and resistance.”
God did it all.
All I Possess 