God Still Hardens Hearts Today

But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” [Exodus 14.13-14]

Exodus 14 is full of interesting information not the least significant is the passage above. This passage requires full trust in God alone and obedience to His Word.

While it is written that God hardened the hearts of Pharaoh and all the Egyptian army, it must be considered that God is love and His entire purpose for creating man from the dust was to fellowship with him. We have numerous references that tell us of God's love and mercy and His desire to redeem ALL mankind. THIS IS IMPORTANT! So, we must be slow to jump to conclusions about what we read in one account without taking all accounts into consideration.

Pharaoh's hatred for Israel was first mentioned in Exodus 1:

Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.” [Exodus 1.8-10]

At its root, and as the account above details, Pharaoh's hatred of Israel was based on fear and perhaps even jealousy. In pure spite and self-preservation, Pharaoh forced Israel into slavery. Then, along comes Moses (and God)...

Think of it this way- let's just say Pharaoh sits down to dinner and the dinner conversation turns to Israel. Because of Pharaoh's fear and jealousy, it makes him mad. The very thought of Israel makes him mad and he only wants to punish them more. And, what's worse, Israel claims the Sovereign lordship of Yahweh- and that makes Pharaoh even madder. In his mind, Pharaoh is the supreme ruler in Egypt, not Yahweh! Every mention of Yahweh just fans the flames of fear and jealousy in Pharoah regarding Israel and their God. In its very essence then, God hardens Pharaoh's heart. This explains how God can be love and still "harden" someone's heart. 

In fact, God is still hardening hearts today! People everywhere, in rebellion just like Pharaoh, reject God and His people. "Besides," the world reasons, "the nerve of those people to claim to have faith when science explains everything!" God, the God of love and mercy, has hardened their hearts.

This brings up an important fact.

Then the Egyptians—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers—chased them into the middle of the sea. [Exodus 14.23]

Pharaoh and all his Egyptian army saw the Red Sea open up. There could be no explanation other than the hand of 'a god' that did this! And, because it was Israel, it would be the hand of Yahweh Whom Pharaoh had grown to categorically reject! There was a choice made that day, a fateful rebellious choice that cost the entire Egyptian army their lives. That choice was to proudly and spitefully ignore the obvious sign before them (the parted Red Sea) that God was fighting for Israel and put themselves in a precarious position in an unexplainably dry seabed. Their rebellious rage against Israel and Israel's God blinded them to their impending danger. "God"- the very thought of God hardened their hearts and they suffered eternally for it.

Again, God still hardens hearts today.

Father, forgive me for rebellion in my heart which comes from me wanting to rule my life instead of letting you rule it.