The Name of God & A Hardened Heart

First of all, apologies for the lack of a posting last Friday for the second installment of this month’s theme – “From Egypt to Canaan”.  So it is a bit of a catch up today as we cover both passages.

Bible Passages:  Exodus 4 -7, Exodus 8-10

Recently, I was told of a news that saddened me greatly.  You can even say that it broke my heart.

And frankly, this news continues to disturb me and is not far from my thoughts each day.  And when I read these two passages today, it made me stopped and cry a little more.

We read of two men today who heard or saw God.  But both responses were quite different.

First, we read of Moses.

God called out to him to go and lead His people out of Egypt.  After trying to get out of it a few times (Exodus 4) … Moses’ heart was finally set right as he responded to God’s call.  He heard the word of God, saw the miraculous signs and concluded… I had better obey the true and living God!

Then we are introduced to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh was also introduced to God and His commandments quite clearly.  Pharaoh also saw many of the miraculous signs that God sent his way….

But… the difference was that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.  And he refused to let the clear will of God and His word affect him at all.

Which leads me to the main question today…. “Does God harden hearts?”

I am sure you would have read this verse in Exodus 9:12…

But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

You always wonder… if God had hardened the heart of Pharaoh, did he really have a fair chance to heed God’s command to let His people go?  Or was he merely a hapless pawn in the whole scheme of God’s plan to free His people?

Pharaoh had as fair a chance as any person to hear and obey the Lord, but he used his encounter with the living God as a singular opportunity to “prove” his own determination and might.  This becomes clear when we understand that “hardening” means the “strengthening” of his will and heart.

God did not intervene in Pharaoh’s decisions in a way that took control of Pharaoh’s will.  Pharaoh kept complete control – and responsibility – over his choices.  Pharaoh was a man of strong determination and strong willed.  And when the Bible says that God “hardened” his heart, it meant that whatever happened, it just made his even more determined and eager to exert his own will over that of God’s.

It is interesting that not every Egyptian had the same response to the plagues as Pharaoh did.  A number of them joined the Hebrews and left in Exodus (12:38).  Furthermore, even some of Pharaoh’s magicians confessed that the miracles of Moses and Aaron were “the finger of God” (Ex 8:19).

In the New Testament, we read that the chronic refusal to respond to God produced a hopeless condition for some believers.  Reading Hebrews 6:4-12 gives us a stern warning for us today….

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

⁷ For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; ⁸ but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

⁹ But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. ¹¹ And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹² that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

The author of Hebrews was careful to point that “God is not unjust” (Heb 6:10) and warns against a sluggish and neglectful attitude towards spiritual growth and obedience.

What about us today?  Are our hearts hardened?  Are we so strong willed that we cannot see we are rejecting God?

Let us imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises and not be like Pharaoh.. finally destroyed because of his hardened heart.