Furnace of Affliction

Stubbornness...

Isaiah 48:1–10 KJV 1900

1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, Which are called by the name of Israel, And are come forth out of the waters of Judah, Which swear by the name of the Lord, And make mention of the God of Israel, But not in truth, nor in righteousness. 2 For they call themselves of the holy city, And stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is his name. 3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; And they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. 4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, And thy neck is an iron sinew, And thy brow brass; 5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; Before it came to pass I shewed it thee: Lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, And my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. 6 Thou hast heard, see all this; And will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, Even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. 7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; Even before the day when thou heardest them not; Lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. 8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; Yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: For I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, And wast called a transgressor from the womb. 9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, And for my praise will I refrain for thee, That I cut thee not off. 10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

עֳנִי

I Samuel 15:23

  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.1

This is a terrible pit fall to discover yourself. Many times we find ourselves as stubborn only AFTER the fact.

Acts 7:51-53

51 Ye estiffnecked and funcircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.1

Stubbornness is borne out of PRIDE! The sin that says I’m the God of mt own life. (I will submit to no one! That’s Satan’s chief sin!)

Jesus said, “Whosoever will lose their life will find it!

Paul said that we are not to be hearers only of the word, but DOER’S of it as well!

Isaiah 48:11–22 KJV 1900

11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: For how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another. 12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, And my right hand hath spanned the heavens: When I call unto them, they stand up together. 14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; Which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: He will do his pleasure on Babylon, And his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. 16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, there am I: And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. 17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. 18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, And thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: 19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, And the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; His name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. 20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, Utter it even to the end of the earth; Say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: He clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:35–39 KJV 1900

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.