It didn't start out
this way. The process actually began seven chapters
earlier with a choice on Pharaoh's part to obey, or not to obey.
Six different times the Bible states that Pharaoh hardened, or
allowed his heart to become hard in willful defiance of Moses
and Aaron, GOD'S spokesmen. Whether we realize it or not,
each decision we make before GOD is either hardening or
softening our heart toward HIM; and the right consistency hinges
upon our consistent obedience. We live as though the
longsuffering of GOD is inexhaustible, but Scripture does not
bear that out! In the initial stages, the LORD sometimes
brings along HIS mallet of attention in the attempt to
tenderize what is becoming hard. If that fails however, what
began as volitional hardness, if
insisted upon, may turn at once to judicial hardness, and that
without cure. "He, that being
often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy."
Let's not kid
ourselves, the real plot of man
has always been the overthrow of GOD and the coronation of self. Pharaoh
is just one early example of a host of powerful losers down
through history determined to
best GOD in a battle of wills. The world's mightiest king
of the time, and his entire army, were no match for LORD of
hosts though, WHO alone rules over the hearts of men. He
perished in a Sea of Red; and others throughout the ages have
suffered like fate, some more or less gruesome and dramatic.
Nebuchadnezzar, the great lord of Babylon, was literally put out to pasture of the LORD;
and years later, his grandson Belshazzar seen the handwriting on the
wall describing his doom. King Saul fell humiliated and slain on
Mount Gilboa; and arguably the most infamous was Judas Iscariot,
who auctioned off CHRIST for thirty pieces of silver, and
purchased an eternal hell with his proceeds. It is no
different today; and it matters nil whether you rule over a
household or a nation, your personal coup against CHRIST will
meet with similar results.
It is the LORD'S desire
to win your heart; but if HE cannot, HE will eventually break
your will to fight, be it here or in the everlasting flames of
judgment. Where is it that
you are
foolishly engaged in seeking to outlast the LORD?
"...
today if ye will hear HIS voice, harden not your hearts."