The Pharaoh In All Of Us

Exodus Chapter 9

The plagues of chapter nine bring the death of the cattle, boils, and a thundering hail from heaven which destroyed most plants. Pharaoh again will not believe the Word of God. God is speaking to Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron yet he can not hear. He sees that every time Moses tells him that God will do something, God does indeed do it. Yet Pharaoh hardens his heart and reasons that there is another explanation for what he sees other than that it is indeed God.

We are like that. We struggle to believe God's Word. We seek after signs and confirmations of God's Word, yet we fail to believe that God's Word is indeed God's Word. God tells us in his Word that if our eye causes us to sin, we are to tear it out and throw it away. Also, if our right hand makes us stumble we are to cut it off and throw it from us, because it is better for us to loose our eye or our arm than for our whole body to be thrown into hell for our sin. Yet as I am typing on my computer this morning I am using both of my hands and both of my eyes to see and type with. Have I sinned with my eyes and my hands in the past? Yes I have. Did I believe that if I didn't lob off my arm or pluck out my eye I was heading to hell? Maybe, but then the next day came and I was still here.

You see, God delays the fulfillment of His Word because of His patience. Paul tells us that he was shown mercy so that Jesus' unlimited patience might be put on display before the world (1 Timothy). At times we (like Pharaoh) don't see an immediate fulfillment of God's Word and so we reason that God must not have meant exactly what he said so I'll just sin again with my eye and my hand fully attached.

Recall the whole account of Pharaoh in your mind. Do you remember who hardened the heart of Pharaoh? Was it Pharaoh himself or was it God hardening Pharaoh's heart? Yes! The answer to both is yes. God takes sin very seriously and he wants us to believe His Word because it is His Word!