A Hard Heart

I am currently reading through the book of Exodus and I have continually come across something that was rather puzzling at first. The beginning portion of Exodus is about God delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and how He does so through Moses and Aaron. The story is quite dramatic and enthralling with frogs and gnats emerging from nowhere, people getting covered in boils, and not a single Israelite being plagued when all the Egyptians suffered, but it was not until after the tenth plague that Pharaoh let the people go. Even then, he was reluctant. This is where my confusion set in. The LORD said to Moses in Exodus 7:3-4, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.” Throughout the following chapters, a similar statement is repeatedly made (Ex. 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7,12, 34; 10:1, 20) and at first I could not understand why. Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Didn’t He want to set His people free?

I was so consumed with this question, that I missed the answer in plain sight. Verse 5 of chapter 7 says, “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.” Exodus 10:1-2 says ”Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.” How could I even miss it? Of course! Why does God do anything, but for His glory?

By hardening Pharaoh’s heart, God had opportunity after opportunity to display His almighty power. He also made it so the Israelites could remember how God delivered them from Egypt. At first glance, it seems almost unfathomable that something negative could be used for God’s glory, but victory comes with a defeat. In our daily lives, it is especially difficult for us to see how God will use some of the situations we are in for His glory. He can heal someone to show others his power or even simply to remind us of how dependent we are on Him. When things in our lives go wrong, we flail about, stress out, and almost always fail to see the good in the situation. The verse from this morning’s team devotions ties in perfectly: Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the Earth.” He will be exalted, whether we see how or not. He tells us to stop worrying, stop trying to take control, and stop relying on ourselves. Be still and know He is God.

Taste of Ireland: Even though it has been quite stormy as of late, according to the Irish Meteorological Service, Ireland’s average number of wet days (days with more than 1mm of rain) ranges from about 150 days a year along the east and south-east coasts, to about 225 days a year in parts of the west.