Pharoah Hardens His Heart to God's Mercy (Ex. 8:8-15)

3/29/2008 8:43 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time  Focus:  Pharaoh hardens his heart to God’s mercy:
Bible Reading & Meditation  Reference:  Exodus 8:8-15
 Message of the verses:  “8  Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the LORD that He remove the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD."  9  Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I entreat for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile?"  10  Then he said, "Tomorrow." So he said, "May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.  11  "The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile."  12  Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD concerning the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh.  13  The LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields.  14  So they piled them in heaps, and the land became foul.  15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.”
 This starts a new section in Dr. Wiersbe’s book entitled “Pharaoh hardens his heart against God,” and in the introduction of this section he writes about what it means to have a person harden their heart before the Lord and what it means to have God harden a person’s heart.  “It means to see clear evidence of the hand of God at work and still refuse to accept His Word and submit to His will.  It means to resist Him by showing ingratitude and disobedience and not having any fear of the Lord or of His judgments.”
 When God hardens a heart:  “Does this mean that God was unfair and that Pharaoh shouldn’t be held responsible for what he did?  No, for the same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay.  It all depends on the nature of the material.”
 Now I will move on to talk about the verses in today’s SD:  This section speaks of what happens after the plague of frogs came upon Egypt and how it was handled by Moses and Pharaoh and of course the Lord.  As stated in yesterday’s SD Pharaoh’s magicians could not remove the frogs, only duplicate this plague and so Pharaoh had to seek out Moses and Aaron to get rid of the frogs, so he did so but he did something interesting when Moses asked him when it was that he wanted the Lord to get rid of these frogs.  Pharaoh did not say get rid of them right away, he told Moses that he wanted rid of the frogs the next day.  Dr. Wiersbe points out two possible reasons as to why Pharaoh chose the next day.  Pharaoh may have thought that they would leave early and thus it would not be as Moses and Aaron said.  Pharaoh may have announced it to many people as to what Moses and Aaron said and if that failed then they would seem like frauds.  Pharaoh did not know how it was that God would rid Egypt of these frogs, perhaps he thought that they would just hop right into the Nile and they would be gone, but he may not have been expecting that they all die thus causing a bigger problem.
 I have two verses highlighted in yellow in today’s section of verses, and these two verses help to sum up much of this section.  Verses 10b and 15 speak to my heart as I read through this section this morning.
 Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One has to be careful as to how one prays for like in this section today Pharaoh’s request should have been more specific and maybe his nation would not have to clean up millions of dead frogs.  Psalm 66:13-14 read as follows, “I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you—vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.”  Pharaoh did not follow what this Psalm said, but I must remember that to do according to this Psalm.
My Steps of Faith for Today:  Make my prayers more specific, and also remember to praise the Lord when He answers my prayers.  To trust the Lord in aiding me to get together my Sunday school lesson for tomorrow. 
Memory verses for the week:  2Cor 12:9-10
9. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.