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“The opposite of a hard heart is a heart that fears God, and that reverential fear motivates us to obey the
Lord’s commands,” my commentary said. “The
hard-hearted person is ignorant of
God and His truth.”
God next sent a pestilence that killed all of the Egyptian
farm animals that had been left in the fields.
With no movement by Pharaoh, God then directed Moses and Aaron to throw
soot into the air, causing painful festering ulcers and boils to appear on the
Egyptians and their cattle that remained.
How it must have galled Pharaoh to see his people and animals affected but none of the Israelite people and animals affected! “He continued
resisting the Lord and His servants, and each
act of disobedience only hardened his heart more. ‘He who is often reproved and hardens his
neck will suddenly be destroyed, and
that without remedy.’”
After getting no response from the boils plague, God
prepared to send the hailstones plague. “Pharaoh’s
heart had become harder, so God’s disciplines
had to become more severe.”
It is important that a hard-hearted person understands that God has dealt with him
in mercy. God directed Moses to tell Pharaoh that He could have simply wiped them off the
face of the earth. He also must
understand that God also had dealt with him in grace. “Apart from the
sovereign will of God, Pharaoh would not have been the ruler of Egypt.”
Yet Pharaoh didn’t honor God’s mercy or His grace. The Lord’s hailstorm wiped out the flax and
barley crops. Any person or animal
caught outside was killed by the hail or by lightning that ran along the ground.
All of this destruction caused Pharaoh to send for
Moses. He then “acknowledged the justice
of God and admitted that he had
sinned. However, his confession was insincere because it didn’t lead to obedience.”
Father God, there is a sorrow
for the consequences we are having
to endure as a result of our actions.
But that is not repentance. There’s
sorry for getting caught, but that is simply shame. What You desire is a broken heart that
willingly admits that disobedience is sin against You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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