The Cause of Hard Hearts

 All of us are susceptible to having our hearts get hard. When that happens, we are no longer able to listen to the Lord as well, and we are insensitive to the things of God. It is a very serious condition. It should be our goal to never allow a hard heart to develop in us. Pharaoh is one of the best known cases of having a hard heart, but many people misunderstand why he had it. God told Moses and Aaron that He would harden Pharaoh's heart so He might multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 7:3,22) However, God did not do this immediately and by force. He knew Pharaoh's heart, so He allowed the Egyptian magicians to copy the signs of Moses and Aaron. When they did that with the snakes and the blood, Pharaoh did not listen to the Lord's words. His rejection of the Lord's clear admonitions is what caused his heart to get harder and harder. Let's consider how this applies to all of us.

God speaks to all of us all of the time. He reveals Himself in various ways. (Romans 1:18-32) If we reject His gracious revelations to us, our hearts get harder and harder, like Paul described in Romans 1. We get farther and farther from God's will and God's ways, so that we are hardened by sin. God never forces that to happen. He gives us a choice. Like Pharaoh, when we see the Lord's signs and wonders, we can choose to accept them or reject them. Unfortunately, most people reject the Lord, because they think they know better, and they want their own way to feed their ego. God continues to give us signs and wonders, big and small, as He did in the land of Egypt, so all peoples of every land can see Him and turn to Him. It is harder when we have hard hearts, but anyone can repent and turn to the Lord. That is what God wants us to do, but He won't force us to choose Him. We must surrender in faith and love. Please, listen to the Lord, receive His revelation of Himself, every day, so that you never develop a hard heart.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Exodus 8-10.