Exodus 7:3–5 (NKJV) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
Have you ever thought that it seems as though God is being mean to Pharaoh. He is making him the fall guy and it seems as though he is spiting him. It does not stop with Pharoah either, it seems like He has done that numerous times with others historically and even today.
Here are some of my thoughts on this scenario…
I think that Pharaoh had been given the truth and the freedom to make the right moral decision but he refused (chose not) to do so. We do things like that all the time, don’t we? We know what is right, but we choose to ignore doing the right thing. So, after continued choices to ignore God's voice God turned him over to the effects of his decisions. There are times when we make a choice but God's spirit moves on our heart so that our conscience is pricked. If we ignore the Holy Spirit, then we find that he no longer moves on our heart, and we are left to face the full impact of our wrong choices.
I believe that part of what it means that God hardened Pharaoh's heart is that God no longer pricked his conscience.
Exodus 7:5 (NIV)5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."
Here is another reason why God hardened the heart of the Pharaoh - for the sake of the Egyptians.
The Egyptians were caught up in worship of so many different gods. They even believed that the Pharoah was a god to be worshipped. They were lost and hopeless in their idol worship and God knew that the only way that He could demonstrate His power and exclusivity is by taking them through hard times where the gods they prayed to were systematically destroyed and shown to be under the power of a higher God. So, He says that when this is all done the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah - that I answer to my Name — that I am the only God who is truly existent, powerful and might and the other so-called gods are simply nonentities.
It was God’s love for the Egyptians that motivated this particular path of action. He was all at once demonstrating His power to His people and to the people around. The Egyptians would know that He was the One true God, the nations of the land of Canaan would know that He was a mighty and powerful God who was fighting on behalf of the Israelites. And every one of those nations would have the option to choose to worship Him. The demonstration of God’s power on behalf of His people is not just for His people’s sake but as a testimony to everyone who is looking on that God is Jehovah - the powerful and only true God.
As a child of God I need to know that when I ask God to work on my behalf then I must also be looking for the opportunities to testify of God’s power in my life to those around me. I must also be willing to trust God and step out in faith, believing that His power is all-sufficient so that my response in faith to God allows the power of God to be demonstrated to the unbelieving around me.
AND, the hard times in unbelievers lives are opportunities for them to experience God’s power, but it requires that we be a Moses and Aaron who help them understand what is happening and why it is happening so that people can make a choice. God is not mean or petty – He truly loves everyone and all that He does is for their benefit.
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