Don't Harden Your Heart

Exodus 7-10; Hebrews 3:7-15

God did the work of hardening Pharaoh’s heart, right? Well at first blush that is what it appears. But let’s look a little closer, shall we? If you look at the first part of chapter 7, Moses and Aaron do a great work as Aaron’s staff becomes a snake and it eats the magician’s staffs. But pay close attention to verse 13 as it says “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.” Pharoah also hardens his heart after the plague of blood, the plague of frogs, the plagues of gnats, flies, and livestock deaths. It isn’t until after the 6th plague of boils that it says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. So, what is the point to all of this? The point is that the Lord will not cause someone’s heart to be hardened who isn’t already predisposed to it already. Pharaoh opened the door to a hard heart when he trusted in false gods to do the one thing that only the God of the universe could do; save him from utter destruction. He demonstrated idolatry by trusting in “his” gods rather than the one true God. Pharaoh was willing to take this to the end as the Lord ultimately continued the hardening Pharaoh had already begun. This resulted in utter ruin and devastation of the Egyptian nation and Egyptian people. God always seeks to use things to further His purpose in the world, whether good or evil.

Questions for further thought:
1. What does it mean that “all things work together for good?”
2. In what ways have you hardened your heart in things God is asking of you? 

Challenge: Describe a time in which you hardened your heart. Now, think about how that could have gone differently if you hadn’t done that.