Monday, February 2, 2026

          The book of Exodus is about an historic departure.  Exodus tells the story of how God delivered Israel out of Egypt and slavery.  And this amazing deliverance happened during the night (12:31).  The Bible says, “Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt” (12:42a).  One theme that leads up to the Exodus is the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.  About six times, the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart directly—so that He might demonstrate His power and glory for Egypt to see.  About ten times, the Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart—the natural consequence of a life lived in defiance of God.  Consider these words—a hardened heart.
         There may not be words anywhere in Scripture more unsettling than these three words—a hardened heart.  Is your heart hardened toward the Lord and the things of the Lord?  Is your heart hardened by sin, defiance and selfishness? We may not clearly and perfectly understand how Pharaoh hardened his heart and God hardened it too.  But we can say that God allows humans, including Pharaoh, to choose and abide in sin and evil.  God does not program us, or any human, to do all things obediently, well and righteously.  God allows us to have the choices of our hearts—even those choices that may be sinful and rebellious. 
         But see the one big theme that develops in the middle of Pharaoh’s hardened heart—God’s will and purpose are neither thwarted nor delayed.  God still accomplished His purpose of delivering Israel from the slavery of Egypt.  Why?  Because, as Exodus says, “I am the LORD” (12:12c).  God is God.  And His plans are not defeated by the stubbornness of a human heart. Only God can change a hardened heart.  Only God can soften the callouses and scars of years of sin, vanity and pride. Paul put it this way, “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.  For Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’  Therefore, God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (Romans 9:16-18).
         Hearts are still hardened toward the Lord today—often by the accumulation of isolated and single acts and events along a lifetime.  Occasionally, loses in life can embitter and harden hearts—deaths, defeats, ruined dreams.  There is no medicine or vaccine that can protect our hearts from being hardened.  Only the grace of God can soften and heal hearts and transform them from death to life.  Give thanks today for the healing power of God’s abundant grace.  Give thanks that He can change the most wayward and defiant heart into one that loves and seeks Him.  Psalm 51:7 says, “cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”  If your heart is hardened or calloused today—by choice or by the circumstances you have faced.  Call upon the Lord to heal and change you.  And God alone will have mercy on you according to His unfailing love.  Have a great Monday!