The Best Pillow for a Hard Head
Today’s Verse:
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. ~Genesis 28:11
A good pillow is essential if you want to sleep well. I have a difficult time sleeping on an unfamiliar pillow, or if it is too fluffy or too hard. A bad pillow will give you a headache, stiff neck, and shoulder problems. Jacob was away from home. On that first night, he was in the middle of the desert. He “took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows.” I have often thought that he must have had a hard head to be able to sleep on stones. I mean, he knew that stones do not provide proper neck support, and that they are very hard for the typical head. Jacob was a “hard head.” He was a “hard head” physically and spiritually. The description of a hard head is that of someone who is extremely stubborn.
There is the reason for a hard head.
Stubbornness is when we are headstrong, inflexible, opinionated, self-willed, insubordinate, and frankly, rebellious. Stubborn people have to do things their way. They typically are not team players. They lack a spirit of cooperation unless it is their idea and way. They tend to be self-righteous and hard on others. Stubborn people are fixed solely on themselves. Jacob was all about himself. He took advantage of his brother twice. He lacked scruples about deceiving his father. He knew that his character was not good, but he persisted in his ways. When we refuse to do right, get offended if we are told to make corrections, and have an antagonistic attitude towards authority, these are indications that we are stubborn. God called Israel “stiff-necked” for being stubbornly rebellious to His commandments. Everyone has a streak of stubbornness in them. The question is: do you know how stubborn and hard-headed you might be?
There is the RX for a hard head.
God came to Jacob that night privately. God gave him a dream of a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. When we read John 1:51, we realize that this ladder was the Lord Jesus Christ! The RX for a hard head is to have our hearts completely fixated on Who Jesus is. We must be fixated on His love for us. We must be fixated on His message to us. We must be fixated on His will for us. Jacob had to see that God was at the top of the ladder, and that at the top was the gate to heaven. We must be confronted as Jacob was that we need to let go of a hard-headed attitude, and be fixed on Jesus. Jacob awoke after the Lord spoke to him in the dream, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not.” God was there for him, but it wasn’t until he saw this dream with the ladder that he realized it was God working on him. The RX for stubbornness is to be still, and to know that He is God!
There is the resistance to a hard head.
We can avoid becoming a hard head. Jacob took the stones he used as pillows and made a pillar, poured oil on them, and called that place Bethel, or the house of God. First, keep your heart tender before God by confessing all sins to Him daily. Second, make Jesus the priority of your life and not yourself. Those stones were no longer his pillow, but instead they became his pillars. Pillars hold up and support. Without a pillar, a building is unstable. When Jesus is first in our life, He gives us the support and stability we need. Third, walk in the Spirit. He poured oil on those stones. Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. A Spirit-walk keeps us humble, and keeps us away from a prideful hard head. Remember the caution against stubbornness in Ps. 32:9: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.”
So, what is the best pillow for a hard head? Leaning on the everlasting arms of our Lord! Jacob was brought to the place in life where he had to lean on the Lord. Don’t be a hard head!
Have a humble God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Psalm 108-114