God has created us in such a way that we must live in accordance with a word. We must live by a law, by a standard. There is no other way for us to function. When we fell into sin, we discovered the possibility (or so we thought) of living by another standard than the one given to us by God. As a practical matter, this meant that we now could follow the words and laws of God, or the words and laws of man. The words of God are grace and truth, and the words of man are death upon death.
This means that when we kick against the law of God, we are kicking against our very life. When we revolt against the truth of God, we are insisting upon a lie. This is why, when the Scriptures become burdensome, and the exposition of Scripture becomes a trial to our souls, we seek out smooth prophets, smooth preachers, men with buttery lessons for us.
When you are headed in the wrong direction, there are any number of healthy admonitions that you don’t really want to hear. What you want to do is double down and tell yourself that firmness is a virtue. Well, yes, it is a virtue, but obstinacy is not nearly so virtuous.
This applies in every area of life. You can find a friend who tells you your skanky outfit looks “cute.” You can find counselors of Rehoboam to tell you to crack down on the employees when you really need to lighten up. You can find prophets that you hadn’t worshiped the Queen of Heaven enough, that’s the problem.