Exodus 8:32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart, at this time also, neither would he let the people go
It was very cold on the Bill Rice Ranch this morning. As usual, I drove my SUV from my house up the Ranch road nearly half a mile to where we meet every morning. There was a significant frost on the windshield this morning, so I was a little late and I was impatient, which was probably the problem. I turned the defrost on in the car for a minute and then just rolled the window down and looked out the driver’s side window to see around the frosted windshield as I drove. Is that smart? No! In fact, if I were off the Ranch, it would be illegal. The time of morning I am driving up, there is no one on the Ranch road. However, it is still not a smart thing to do.
Have you ever done an unsmart thing in your life? For me the dumbest things I do are unwise things I do a second, third, or fourth time. I think, “Rice, will you never learn!” Someone once said, “Life is hard and it is harder if you are stupid.” That is harsh, but there is truth to the fact that life is harder if you are not wise.
Most of our problems are not from having a hard head. Our problem is hard heart. In the Bible, you find many examples of people who just lived a hard life. It was not because they had to, but because they had a hard heart. Chief among the examples would be Pharaoh, to whom God had sent Moses and Aaron to tell him, “Let my people go.”
Exodus 8:32 says, “And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.” The Bible says that he hardened his heart at this time also. That is the very definition of a hard heart, something that you do once and again. So, God sent numbers of plagues upon Egypt because Pharaoh would not relent. He had a hard heart. People who have a hard heart have a hard life. Have you noticed that? Life can be hard for everyone, but it is especially hard when you bring it upon yourself.
You can see this in other ways as well. I have noticed that for generous people life seems to be generous to them. It doesn’t mean they don’t have problems, but things are given to them because they are such givers. You are going to get what you give and people with a hard heart have a hard life. Why is that?
Pharaoh illustrates a couple of general principles. First, Pharaoh was deceived. After Pharaoh demanded Moses and Aaron to do a miracle, they did, and then Pharaoh also called for his wise men and sorcerers. Exodus 7:11 says, “The magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.” The bottom line is that Pharaoh said, “Show me a sign,” and then he replicated it. It reminds me of the attitude of so many who said to Christ, “Show us a sign and we will believe.” There are many people who had every sign in the book, yet rejected Christ.
I think Pharaoh thought his problem was with Moses, but Moses was just an ambassador, a mouthpiece for God. Pharaoh was very much deceived. His own magicians conceded in Exodus 8:19, “This is the finger of God.” They could not do all that God did. So, Pharaoh had a hard heart because he was deceived. He demanded a sign and did not listen when God gave one. He tried to replicate the same by his own means. People who have a hard heart have a hard life.
Second, Pharaoh was dull and insensitive. Exodus 7:23, speaking of Pharaoh, says, “And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.” So, God began sending plagues. He turned the waters of the Nile into blood. Pharaoh just ignored this. He was dull and insensitive. Proverbs calls this kind of heart brutish, like an animal. In Jude the Bible refers to people who were like brute beasts; they were unthinking.
Exodus 8:15 says, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” So, third, he never learned from his mistakes or the chastening or deliverance God gave him. When he told Moses to God intreat God for him, Moses did that. God showed mercy, but instead of learning, he kept doing the same thing. The Bible says the goodness of God leads to repentance. In God’s judgment and His goodness He is trying to bring someone to a relationship with Himself, but a person with a hard heart has a hard life because they are deceived, dull and insensitive, and never learn from their mistakes.
In Exodus 8 Pharaoh called for Moses to entreat God to take away the frogs. Moses replied, “When shall I entreat for thee.” Pharaoh told Moses, “Tomorrow.” Here are all these plagues and Moses offered to go to God for Pharaoh and Pharaoh tells him to go tomorrow. Moses replied, “Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.” He was slow. He delayed. This is a soft rebellion. Oftentimes we think, “I’ll do what is right, but later.” That is a soft rebellion that equals a hard heart which leads to a hard life.
Ultimately, all of us are going to have difficulties in life, but we don’t have to have the difficulties that come because of our own hardness of head, hearing, and heart. When God sent a swarm of flies, He said in Exodus 8:22, “I will sever in that day the land of Goshen…to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of all the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy [Pharaoh’s] people.” Israel had difficulties, but there is a difference between difficulty because I am doing the right thing and a difficulty because of my own rebellion.
Life is harder when you are hard-of-hearing, hard-of-heart, and hard-of-head. People who have a hard heart have a hard life, but those who respond to what God says can know the contentment and serenity of having God with them in difficult times. May God help me not to be hard-hearted, hard-headed, and hard-of-hearing, but to have a heart soft to God and to learn from life every day.