Otherwise, I am going to send all My plagues against you, your officials, and your people. Then you will know there is no one like Me in all earth. By now I could have outstretched  My hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.
However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power and to make My name known in all the earth.
Exodus 9:14-16 HCSB

In our Friday morning Bible study, we are in the book of Exodus. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. God had heard their cry and was sending Moses and his brother Aaron to go and demand their release. Now what is interesting is that over and over it says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he refused to let them go. In some scriptures, it says that God hardened his heart. But we must understand that Pharaoh’s had hardened his own heart seven times. Finally God allowed helped Pharaoh get his heart even harder. He let Pharaoh have it his way.

Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh repeatedly to let the Israelites go and he refused. God has sent six plagues, first their water turned to blood making it stink and undrinkable. Then God sent frogs to cover their land and the inside of their homes. Then there were gnats. The fourth plague was swarms of flies. Then God killed all their livestock. Now this plague sent a serious blow to Egyptian economy affecting their transportation and their worship as they considered cows to be sacred. This was the first plague where they saw actual property damage. With the sixth plague, God sent festering boils on every Egyptian man and beast. It is important to note here that God did not strike the Israelite livestock dead nor did the Israelites or their animals suffer with the boils.

Pharaoh is hardening his heart each time against God. He is rebelling against God. It seems as though the harder our hearts get, the dumber we get. This is certainly the case with Pharaoh. It is as if he has forgotten who brought him into this world and who can take him out of it. God has all the power here. Does Pharaoh think that by being stubborn, he can thwart God’s plan?

Pharaoh has a problem and I’m not just talking about all these plagues God is sending his way. I am referring to his pride. In Egypt Pharaoh was like a god. He ruled over all the people and the land. Everything in Egypt was under his control. In his pride, he didn’t realize that everything in the universe is under God’s control. He forgot to realize that he takes his next breath because God allows that.

Sadly, I can look back on times in my life where I did the exact same thing. I forgot that the God of all the universe was telling me to do something or not do something. I was not smart enough to do it His way. I wasn’t smart enough to obey His commands. Silly me, I thought that I had some kind of strength or power. I forgot that I had no power and no strength if I don’t get it from the one, true God. I spent years with a hard heart. I had allowed the trials and tribulations I had gone through make me bitter and angry. I had tried so hard to control things, only to lose control. I forgot to realize that God could have simply stretched his hand out and obliterated me.

But, praise God, I came to my senses. I realized that He is the God of the universe and there is nothing He can’t do. I realized that His will is going to be done whether I agree or not. I realized that I can obey Him and be a part of it or He will find someone else to do it and I can suffer the consequences of disobedience.

When you look around our once great nation today, you see a lot of Pharaohs, people who think they are in control. People actually think they can protest, riot, destroy other people’s property and get away with it. The government might let them get away with it, but God will not. People think they can deny God’s existence, but they are wrong. They just don’t get it. They don’t understand that all things in the universe are under His control. And trust me on this one, the last thing you want is for God to wash His hands of you and allow you to have it your way.

Once we get that and we can wrap our heads around that, we surrender to His control. We submit to His will. We can trust in Him and be obedient.

My prayer for you today is that you get it.

Has your heart become hardened? He can help with that. Turn to Him today.

Have a great weekend!