#36 WHEN GOD HARDENS A HEART 8-26-26
The statement that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart has caused a lot of unnecessary confusion . Did God reach down and make Pharaoh rebellious? Did God force Pharaoh to reject Him so that Pharaoh could then be condemned? If that were the meaning, we would have a serious problem with the character of God.
The Bible never presents God as the author of sin. Pharaoh was a proud, stubborn man who repeatedly resisted the command of God. Before we ever read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, we read that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34).
THE RESISTANCE OF PHARAOH
Pharaoh did not wake up one morning as an innocent man whom God suddenly turned into a rebel. He heard the word of God and resisted it. He saw the power of God and rejected it. He witnessed plague after plague and continued to refuse obedience. Pharaoh made his choice, and God allowed him to continue down the road he had chosen. God did not have to create rebellion in Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh already had rebellion in his heart.
This is an important warning for us. Every time God speaks, we are making a response. We either become more receptive to His truth or more resistant to it. The Bible says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7-8). A hardened heart does not usually happen all at once. It happens when a person repeatedly says no to God.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
Some theological systems have attempted to explain God’s sovereignty by making God’s choice the ultimate cause behind everything a person does. Calvinism, particularly in its stronger forms, leaves people with the impression that Pharaoh was simply carrying out a divine determination from which he could not escape. But that is not the picture Exodus gives us.
God is sovereign without being sinful. God can judge a rebellious person, permit that person to continue in rebellion, and still accomplish His purposes through that rebellion without becoming the author of the rebellion. Pharaoh was responsible for Pharaoh’s sin. God was responsible for His righteous judgment. Those truths stand together.
The Bible says that God “gave them over” to the desires they had already embraced (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). There is a terrifying judgment in that. The judgment of God is not that He forces a person to do evil. It is that He allows a person to have the consequences of continually choosing evil.
THE REVELATION OF GOD’S GLORY
God was doing something greater through the entire story. Pharaoh’s rebellion did not overthrow God’s purpose. God delivered Israel. God judged Egypt. God demonstrated His power. God made His name known throughout the earth (Exodus 9:16).
That is the sovereignty of God we need to remember. God does not have to make people sin in order to remain sovereign. He can work through the choices of sinful people and still accomplish His righteous purposes. The rebellion of Pharaoh became the backdrop against which the power, justice, patience, and deliverance of God were revealed.
So do not become obsessed with trying to explain away every mystery of God’s sovereignty. Look at Pharaoh and take the warning seriously. Do not resist God until resistance becomes your character. Do not hear His Word and continually say no. Do not mistake God’s patience for God’s approval.
When God speaks, listen. When God convicts you, repent. When God calls you, follow. When God reveals your sin, bring it into the light. The same heart that can become hardened through continued resistance can also become tender through humble obedience.
God is sovereign. Man is responsible. We do not have to deny one truth to defend the other. Pharaoh hardened his heart, God judged Pharaoh, and God’s purposes were accomplished. The King of heaven remains righteous in all His ways.
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Father, keep my heart tender toward You. Never let me become so proud that I resist Your voice or so stubborn that I refuse Your correction. Give me a heart that hears Your Word, believes Your truth, repents of sin, and gladly obeys Your will. Help me trust Your sovereignty without blaming You for my sin. May my life reveal Your glory rather than resist Your grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
BDD
