Like many of you, I've often wondered what it means for God to say that he'll harden Pharaoh's heart. Does this mean that God isn't allowing Pharaoh to exercise his free will? Is God forcing him into this situation?
I don't think that's the case. It would be in conflict with so much else of what we see in Scripture. I do think that God allows Pharaoh's worst tendencies to stand out here, and Pharaoh's arrogance ends up ruling his mind and heart and driving his decisions.
What we see is a clash -- Pharaoh's belief in himself as a god, and God's actual power and strength. At some point, all of our false gods come into conflict with the reality of God's awesome wisdom and sovereignty. We have a decision to make -- will we stubbornly stick to our own view of the universe, or will we submit to God's lordship, trusting that as hard as it may seem, God's wisdom is greater than our own?
No comments:
Post a Comment