What other scriptures warn against following "stubbornness of your evil hearts"? Setting the Scene Jeremiah 7:24 sets the tone: “Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubbornness of their own evil hearts. They went backward, not forward.” The Lord’s warning is not isolated. Scripture repeatedly calls out this lethal hard-heartedness, urging us to listen, repent, and walk in obedience. Early Warnings in the Law • Deuteronomy 29:19 – “When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, thinking, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will thus bring disaster on the watered and the dry alike.” • Deuteronomy 31:27 – “For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am alive, how much more after my death!” Echoes in Psalms and Proverbs • Psalm 81:11-12 – “But My people would not listen to My voice, and Israel would not obey Me. So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” • Proverbs 28:14 – “Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.” Prophetic Trumpet Blasts • Isaiah 30:1 – “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan but not Mine…” • Isaiah 65:2 – “All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people, who walk in the way that is not good, following their own thoughts.” • Jeremiah 11:8 – “Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts.” • Jeremiah 16:12 – “Each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.” • Jeremiah 18:12 – “But they will say, ‘It is hopeless! For we will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’” • Ezekiel 3:7 – “The house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me; indeed, the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.” • Zechariah 7:11-12 – “They refused to pay attention; they turned stubbornly and stopped their ears… They made their hearts like flint.” New-Covenant Warnings • Acts 7:51 – “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit.” • Romans 2:5 – “Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself on the day of wrath…” • Hebrews 3:7-8 – “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Why God Repeats the Message • Stubbornness blinds us to truth (2 Corinthians 4:4). • It provokes divine discipline (Hebrews 12:5-6). • It halts spiritual progress—“backward, not forward” (Jeremiah 7:24). Responding Rightly • Ask for a new heart and Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27). • Keep God’s word before you daily (Psalm 119:11). • Encourage one another so no one is “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13). The Lord’s plea is consistent from Moses to the apostles: abandon the stubbornness of an evil heart, listen, and live. |
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