Not Listening

DEVOTION

EXODUS

NOT LISTENING

Ex 9:8-12

8 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. 9 It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on men and animals throughout the land." 10 So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on men and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. 12 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses.

NIV

So far the plagues have been exterior in nature, which is the Nile turning to blood, frogs everywhere, and then gnats everywhere followed by flies. The last plague struck their livestock and hence their economy.  Although some of these things were of great annoyance to the Egyptians their health had not yet been effected. This sort of resembles the story of Job. Although Satan was allowed to take all he had away, his family, his home, his wealth, he was not allowed to affect his health, until the second conversation between God and Satan regarding Jobs unwavering heart devoted to God. Here we have Pharaoh with an unwavering heart against God. So now the plague gets personal and their health is on the line. Soot turns into fine dust which causes boils to break out all over their skin. This had to be more then annoying, it had to be painful. Even the magicians had to yield to Moses because of this plague as they were full of the boils as well. Their black arts had no power against the hand of God, as we already have seen. Under any normal situation we would think it would be time to yield to the power of God, but this is no normal of situations. We are told again the Lord strengthened the resolve of Pharaoh to refuse to let them go. Why would he do that? Why would the Lord influence the heart of an unbeliever to be set against his demand to let his people go? As we have said before, God did not make a soft heart hard, but rather he strengthened the resolve of this hard heart so that he could demonstrate the fullness of his power. There is no question about the sovereignty of God. He can do whatever he wants to do with whomever he wants to do it with, for or to. Sometimes it appears many believers take on an attitude of faith based on a self-centered agenda. God is there for the purpose of answering our prayers, giving us our hearts desires. But our lives are about God, his agenda, his plans, his purpose for our lives. Everything is about God, not about us. Now does he choose some people to go to hell, no, absolutely not, as some denominations are of the opinion. Does he choose some not to be saved, no, no and emphatically no! However those whose heart is harden toward him, those who have refused to accept his power, his grace, his love, he still can use them for his purpose. He still can have influence over their thinking, even to the point of strengthening their resolve against him so that he can show his power. Would he rather they turn their heart around and accept him. Yes without question. The whole of this narrative would have changed if Pharaoh would have said to Moses that he believes God is the greatest God and please go and worship him wherever you need to. The result would have been the same, the people would have left Egypt, and there still would have been an exodus. But here evil remained evil and the Lord allowed him to remain dead set against his demand. God does not change the heart of man, man needs to change his own heart and turn from evil, repent of evil and turn toward God. Will this story repeat throughout the ages so men will turn to God? Will he demonstrate his power through a hardened heart? Perhaps some, today in the leadership of our country have that hard heart, bent against God. There are certainly countries around the world led by evil men trying their best to enslave the people of God, to persecute them into submission to their god, whoever that is. We will not resist, we determined to turn our heart toward God, and because we did, we are now his people and this world will have to let us go. This world cannot hold us no matter how much it tries. God tells the world, "Let my people go". But their hearts have been hard toward him, so he strengthens their resolve against him, and his power will be seen again and again until the Day of the Lord, then his power will be on display for the whole world to see. We will be released for good. But the world will not listen. We can share the gospel message with everyone, but there are some who will be among those like Pharaoh, not listening.