The Phil Files

More than twenty years ago, a young lady and her mother ran a red light and slammed into a friend of mine as we were going through an intersection. I was in the back seat of his Suburban. She was going 65 mph, and we were the second vehicle through the intersection. I knew almost immediately that I was hurt — not severely hurt, but my shoulder and my arm were numb. However, the other car was totally demolished and so we rushed to make sure the folks in the other car were OK. After a trip to the hospital, everyone turned out to be okay — very shaken up, bumps and bruises, but not disastrous injuries.

I was, however, left with a stiff neck from time-to-time. Over the years, I’ve had therapy, decompression and several other things done to help alleviate the problem. Now I just make sure I stretch several times a day and everything is fine. No problems … until a few days ago.These last few days have been one of the “from time-to-time” periods in my life. I’ve had that sorry ol’ stiff neck. It’s getting better every day, but I can tell you that it makes me grumpy, impatient, and a bit of a “whiny baby” — okay, my family might drop the line “bit of a” for the words “a big ol’ whiny baby.” Most of all, I’m not very open to suggestions. I try to be pliable and cooperative, but I know I’m not. As I said, what I am is grumpy, impatient, and a bit of a “whiny baby.”

This morning, I woke up thinking about all that God said about stiff-necked people — click here for a list. The image refers to an ox or donkey that would stiffen its neck and refuse to cooperate while yoked to do work or haul a cart. As we say around these parts, “they’d bow their neck up” and refuse to do what you want. This image of a “stiff-necked” became a living metaphor for God’s people and their unwillingness to respond to God. He would try to do good for them. He would call them to obedience. He would try to prevent destruction from happening to them. Instead, they would become stiff-necked and go their own way … and disaster would fall on them.

The interesting thing as I read these passages and their context, however, is that my self-admitted description of having a stiff neck was as applicable to the Israelites as the ox and donkey explanation. God’s people were grumpy, impatient, and a bunch of “whiny babies.”

Ouch! Convicting! I don’t want to be like those hard-headed and rebellious people.

So the question that I have had to face this morning does not have to do with my physical condition of being stiff-necked — that will pass in another day or two — but it has more to do with my spiritual condition of being stiff-necked.

About what parts of my spiritual life am I grumpy, impatient, and a “whiny baby”?

Where am I spiritually stiff-necked?

Why do I bow my neck against the will of the Lord?

But maybe the most important question for all of us, “How am I going to be more pliable and allow God change me and mold me to His will?”