Is God Good? (Part Three: Why Did God Make Pharaoh’s Heart Hard?)
Aug0
Be sure to also read Part One and Part Two of this series.
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to demonstrate His Glory among Egypt and Israel and the earth so that the people would know He is God. But Pharaoh wasn’t chosen as a tragic casualty so that his people would see God’s power; there is more to the story.
The Biblical account in Exodus 3-15 shows us that Pharaoh wasn’t pursuing to know the Hebrew God, and in fact was consumed with his own gods and his own ways. In other words, he was already hardening his own heart to God, God just allowed for this to happen more quickly. We also see that God has full knowledge of Pharaoh’s thoughts and intentions, and is making a good and righteous judgment by hardening Pharaoh’s heart.
This is a pretty long account, so I’m going to highlight just a few areas; I’d encourage those who are interested in this story to read and dialog with God about it more thoroughly.
- Ex 3: 19: God is giving Moses instructions on how to present his case to Pharaoh and says He knows that king of Egypt will not permit the Hebrews to leave except under compulsion (or ‘unless a mighty hand compels him’).
- Ex 7:3: God will harden Pharaoh’s heart that He may put on a bigger show–that He may multiply the signs and wonders in the land.
- Ex 7:22: Pharaoh’s heart is hardened because he sees that his own magicians can do the same ‘magic’ as the Lord–he doesn’t care to know God, but to have power, and he isn’t impressed by God’s power so long as his magicians can imitate it. If he were to seek the Lord, it would be for the wrong intentions: to have more power and control.
- Ex 8:15: here Pharaoh hardens his own heart and it is clear his desire was for relief from the plague rather than an awe at the power of God.
- Ex 8:18-19: even when his magicians cannot imitate God’s power and admit to Pharaoh that “This is the finger of God” he does not listen. He really doesn’t want to know God.
- Ex 9:16: God could have just killed Egypt to free the Jews. He went about freeing them in this creative way so that His power and name would be proclaimed in ALL the earth. He may have picked the Jews, but He’s always wanted everyone to know of Him and be His people.
- Ex 9:34: at some moments Pharaoh hardens his own heart…
- Ex 11:9-10: other times, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, giving Him the chance to do even more miracles.
God is very much about free will (letting us make our own choices). As a result, He will help us get wherever we want to go faster. If we earnestly desire Him, we will find Him. If we want to engage our own desires and run our own lives, He will let us do that too–in some cases speeding up the process of hardening our hearts so that the ’smashing of the clay’ can be done sooner than later, or so that we can be a demonstration of His might.
So, when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it wasn’t a violation of Pharaoh’s will, but a hastening of the choice Pharaoh had already made. It also provided for Pharaoh to have a final season of mercy as God did extravagant signs and wonders right before his eyes–signs and wonders that also gave the Israelites confidence and awe in their God, and allowed for the name of the Lord to be known throughout the nations (Ex 15:1-3, Ex 15:14-16).
Is God Good? (Part One)
Aug0
I’ve met so many people–both Christians and not–who struggle to believe in, connect with, or admire God because it’s hard for them to see Him as ‘good’, so this is post one in a series on God’s goodness.
I want to begin by showing that the Bible testifies that He is good. In later posts I will focus specifically on how we can see God’s goodness within the Bible stories that seem mostly negative (and perhaps this can move into discussion of how God is working in our day-to-day lives). If a specific Bible account has particularly bothered you or a friend in terms of God’s goodness, please comment about it below and perhaps I will address it specifically.
Here is one of my favorite psalms in which David testifies of the Lord’s goodness:
Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts / And I will tell of Your greatness. / They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness / And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful; / Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. / The Lord is good to all, / And His mercies are over all His works. / All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, / And Your godly ones shall bless You. / They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom / And talk of Your power; / To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts / And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. / Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, / And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord sustains all who fall / And raises up all who are bowed down. / The eyes of all look to You, / And You give them their food in due time. / You open Your hand / And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all His ways / And kind in all His deeds. / The Lord is near to all who call upon Him. / To all who call upon Him in truth. / He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; / He will also hear their cry and will save them. / The Lord keeps all who love Him. / But all the wicked He will destroy. / My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, / And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever. (Psalm 145:6-21)
I love David’s account here of God’s character. If God is who David says He is, than He’s not just good but abundantly good in a way we can physically remember! He’s not just righteous, but righteous in a way that will cause us to shout for joy if we truly experience it! He is enough to satisfy every living thing, near to all who call on Him in truth, and protecting all who love Him. Perhaps what catches me the most is that He is “good to all”, which means that even as He is destroying the wicked He is good! This can be a bit mind-boggling, so is worth breaking down. We will spend many more posts on this (though perhaps not consecutively–especially as I am currently out-of-state visiting family). 
Jesus IS the Word; the Bible is His transcript.
Jul0
The Bible is the key to the heart of God. There’s power in it, because it’s the testimony of the true God, and He Himself speaks in and through it (literally). It’s a powerful thing to capture the words of the Lord–and this is just what the Bible has done. It’s the transcript of dialogs with God throughout history.
A friend asked me once whether we can trust the Bible since the translations vary slightly from language to language and version to version. She, being linguistic minded, felt it wrong to credit God for potential human errors–and how can we say that each are the inspired Word of God when they aren’t exactly the same?
All good questions. But here’s the thing: it is the HOLY SPIRIT who reveals the Word to us (John 14 & 16).
Well, wait! What about the Bible? Yes, it starts with the Bible. Our lives should revolve around the Bible because it IS the inspired Word of God–it’s His transcript to us. But Jesus is the Word that became flesh (John 1). The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God Himself, and it’s the Holy Spirit speaking through the Bible that makes the Word come alive for us (1 Cor 2)! In essense, it’s the Bible plus the Holy Spirit–the Bible is the living Word only when read with the Holy Spirit’s divine guidance. So, it’s all about the Bible (which is Jesus, the Word, as a lingual transcription for us); and it’s all about Jesus, who is the Word Himself and still speaks through His Spirit!
No gray areas…
Jul0
So, I had posted briefly that there are no gray areas in the spiritual realm: everything is either of God or it isn’t.
This is so simple it becomes complex. (And, yes, I’m still speaking rationally, just outside the visible box. We must pragmatically articulate the invisible realm because it exists—one day it will even be visible!)
We know that something is of God if it lines up to the attributes of His nature, and if it doesn’t line up to that standard (even if it’s just minutely off) than it is not of God (or ‘evil’). This is in the spiritual realm.
As humans we intersect the spiritual realm, whether or not we’re cognizant of it. We think we come up with our own ideas (and to a certain extent we do), but more often our thoughts are coming from the unseen spiritual realm. When we repeat or believe something we hear from God (through the Holy Spirit) it’s called prophecy or truth. When we repeat or believe what we’re hearing in the demonic realm, it’s evil. Engaging evil thoughts (or acting on them) is sin. It’s not the hearing of the demonic realm that is sin, but the entering in by believing and thinking on those things.
It’s very important that we recognize good and evil (God and not-God) as occurring on the spiritual level first, because the fruit (the outward ‘doing’ of the good or evil) is totally dependent on the seed itself. (A good seed blossoms into good fruit and vice versa.)
So, if my actions are an overflowing of the Lord’s love within me, I am doing ‘good’. If the motivation of my actions is not aligned with the full nature of God, I am doing ‘evil’ and entering into sin. And it really is that simple.
This is why 1 Cor 13 says that without a foundation of love (God), nothing we do matters—even if we’re feeding the poor, or acting in spiritual gifts, or engaging in other seemingly good activities. God is love, and everything must be filtered through Him.
In another post I’ll discuss the large variety of choices and experiences we can have within the ‘God’ and ‘not-God’ realms. There are no gray areas in the spiritual realm, but since we have God-given freedom and creativity, there are multiple manifestations of how we use the gifts and wisdom He gives us—I wouldn’t say this is a ‘gray area’ so much as a colorful spectrum of opportunities.
This blog addresses the 'sticky' topics of Western Christianity in an attempt to shake, refocus, and unite the body of Christ, and to reveal the true gospel message to unbelievers.
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