As part of the First Steps Reading Plan for 2012, I just finished reading through the book of Exodus. The storyline (maybe better known from The Ten Commandments or Prince of Egypt) tells the lot of Moses and his quest to free his people from slavery in Egypt. Throughout ten plagues and an exit toward the Red Sea, I came across a familiar phrase,
the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
A quick Bible search reveals this isn’t the only mention of God hardening someone’s heart. The phrase is many times at the heart of the free will versus fate debate as it seems to imply that God forced Pharaoh to align to His will. However, the broader context of Exodus shows the more he didn’t get his own way, the more angry and stubborn he became. It’s simply Pharaoh’s response to God’s will. Therefore “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart” might better be understood as,
the LORD ticked Pharaoh off.
A hardened heart is the response of a prideful man to the sovereignty of God just as a broken heart is the response of a humble man. It’s not a matter of free will and fate. It’s a matter of submission and resistance. Jill reminded me the other day of saying from a speaker that brilliantly sums it up, “The same sun that melts wax can harden clay.” I want my heart to respond as the two men who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us?”… broken, humbled, and ready to be moved by God.
