You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.
As your fathers did, so do you. -Acts 7:51 ESV
Stephen uttered these sadly prophetic words to the religious folks who were about to murder him with rocks and stones. The hurling of these stones evidenced how these stiff-necked religious folks violently resisted the Holy Spirit. It was true then and it is true today how humans are able to resist the convicting influence of the Spirit of God.
Do you find it odd that the Almighty has given humans the ability to resist him and his will? Does it not speak to you about the way that God has chosen to rule the universe? Certainly God could have stopped those who murdered Stephen. Yet in the same way that he gave them the freedom to resist his will, he also gives us the ability to follow the Holy Spirit.
I am stiff-necked and stubborn Lord. Help me to filter out the noise and hear you that I might follow you.
... this devotion is part of an ongoing series on words in the bible.
amen
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