Tag: heart was hardened

41.u. “Let My People Go” 3. Gnats/Lice

 

Exodus 8:16  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

This plague came unannounced. This time God did not show Pharaoh the mercy of a warning and an invitation to repentance. These magicians could use occult powers to change a rod into a snake, to turn water into blood, and to summon frogs – yet they could no bring forth lice.  This is the finger of God: When the magicians said this to Pharaoh, it showed they knew there was a power greater than their own, yet it was a power that they did not honor and serve.  The hardness of Pharaoh’s heart is shown when he would not even listen to the analysis of his own advisers. There was no rational reason why he insisted on resisting and rejecting the LORD God. (Guzik)

It is to be noticed that the third plague, whatever it was, came without warning. It was God’s judgment on Pharaoh for hardening his heart and breaking his promise (Exodus 8:15); and he was not given the option of avoiding it by submission to God’s will. (Ellicott)

Any study of this passage will fall on a discussion on whether the plague was gnats, lice, or mosquitoes.  I don’t really think this matters and needs much if any discussion. The point(s) that are important:

  1. God did not warn Pharaoh
  2. The power of God was displayed
  3. The impact of this plague affected all of Egypt, man, and beast
  4. Secret arts of the magicians could not produce the same
  5. The magicians recognized the finger of God in this plague
  6. The magicians advised Pharaoh of this
  7. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened
  8. Pharaoh would not listen

What causes a heart to become so hard that it cannot reason or see logic and cause and effect? Heart blindness to God, the Word of God, and things of God harden the heart. While on a walk this morning I was thinking about pride and what it can cause us to think, say, and do. Jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, arrogance, boastfulness, and self-reliance all have root in pride. It is a terrible seed to allow to find root in our hearts and minds. Being able to recognize this in ourselves is not as easy as one would think. It has so many avenues by which it can infect our thinking, words, and actions that most of the time we would blindly think, walk, or talk pridefully.  I do know this, left on our own we would continually become more and more prideful without God’s Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit’s discernment. Pride will tell us that we are good enough or doing enough and allow us to become neglectful and complacent towards God’s Word and things of God. Pride will convince us that we have grown and matured to a level where little time in God’s Word is required anymore. Pride in our hearts will rob honor and glory due to Jesus Christ. How many families, friendships, marriages, jobs, neighbors, church membership, etc…. have been fractured due to pride? 

How is a person to examine their heart and mind for pride? Ask God to expose it and hunger for and willingly read His Word with an expectation of being shown. David said it like this; “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

This is the heart and mind of what it would be like to seek and desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all that is thought, said, and done at all times.

41.r. “So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded”

 

 

Exodus 7:8  Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

The first time Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh everything seemed to go wrong. It took courage for them to go to Pharaoh again, but Moses simply obeyed God.  In the midst of an unmistakable miracle, Satan provided Pharaoh with a reason to doubt – and Pharaoh seized on the doubt and hardened his heart. Miracles – or at least apparent miracles – are part of Satan’s arsenal. Paul later wrote on this theme: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they may be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). These Egyptian magicians were intelligent, learned men; but they lacked the wisdom of God, as Paul observed concerning them in 2 Timothy 3:7-9: Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. (Guzik)

Unless they were misdoubted, it was not for them to produce their credentials. Hence they worked no miracle at their former interview. Now, however, the time was come when their credentials would be demanded, and an express command was given them to exhibit the first “sign.” What men dislike, because it opposes their pride and lusts, they will not be convinced of; but it is easy to cause them to believe things they wish to be true. God always sends with his word full proofs of its Divine authority; but when men are bent to disobey, and willing to object, he often permits a snare to be laid wherein they are entangled. The magicians were cheats, trying to copy the real miracles of Moses by secret sleights or jugglings, which to a small extent they succeeded in doing, so as to deceive the bystanders, but they were at length obliged to confess they could not any longer imitate the effects of Divine power. None assist more in the destruction of sinners, than such as resist the truth by amusing men with a counterfeit resemblance of it. (Henry)

Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, &c.—His object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron’s was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art

2 Timothy 3:8  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

Paul calls out the names of those who were called by Pharaoh to perform miracles in comparison to Moses and Aaron. I wonder what these men would say to us today. They have spent over 3,000 years in hell and torment. Would they say Believe in God, Satan is a liar, or Hell and torments for eternity is real? Would they say Keep your heart and mind pure, your eyes focused, and listen to things of God with a deep desire to honor and glorify Him? As much as I want to think this is what they would come to say, it is more probable that they would forever be cussing at God and things of God.

Things of this world, Satan, and our natural sinful desires will always try to distract us away from God, serving God, following God, obeying God, trusting God, relying on God, the Word of God, and things of God. Anyone one of the things of this world, Satan, and our natural sinful desires can water down the truth and impact of God’s Word in our lives. They can lead us toward apathy, stagnation, deadness, neglect, complacency, and indifference, and will leave us void, empty, and unsatisfied, unholy, ungodly, and convince us that we have the appearance of righteousness, but in reality – Deceived.