I would often wonder when I read the story of Moses why it was that God would harden Pharaoh's heart. Exodus 7:3-4; But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Exodus 9:12; But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses. As I read my devotions today, Exodus 8:18-19 stood out to me: But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”
If God had softened Pharaoh's heart and had just let the Israelites go, no one would have really known it was God who had freed his people. If Moses had gone up to Pharaoh and told him God wanted him to let his people go, and Pharaoh had said yes, that would not have been really impressive. God wanted the Egyptians, the Israelites, and anyone that heard the story would understand God's great power and believe. I always find it so wonderful that the magicians could make frogs and snakes with Satanic powers, but God's were always better and over the magicians'.
As I make and effort to trust God, because he is so much greater than I am, I encourage you to do the same thing. Leslie Ludy put this idea in a really good was. She said we need to give God the pen to write the story of our life. Sometimes we will take that pen away from him and tell him 'Oh, I got it from here.' But the truth is we need to be able to give the pen back and leave it in his hands, because he knows and wants the best for us, more than we do for our own selves.
~Daughter of the Light
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