A Stubborn Heart

I was reading a Bible story to my boy titled “The Plagues”.  It told of the story of when God sent Moses to free God’s people.  I’ve heard the story before (Exodus 7-12) but this time, reading it from the child’s version, I noticed something different.  I noticed just how stubborn Pharaoh must have been.

“Moses tried to convince Pharaoh to free the people.  When Pharaoh refused, God sent troubling messages to get the ruler’s attention.  Terrible plagues happened: bloody water, too many frogs, swarms of tiny gnats, millions of flies.  Then the animals got sick and so did the people.  Hail pounded the plants and clouds of locust ate everything green.  Darkness lasted all day.  No matter what happened, Pharaoh kept a stubborn heart.  God gave Egypt nine chances to free the slaves.  With the tenth plague Pharaoh finally changed his mind!” (Adventures Bible Storybook)

Pharaoh didn’t believe in the God of Moses and he was also a stubborn man.  “This is what the Lord says:  By this you will know that I am the Lord:  With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.  The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.”  Exodus 7:17-18  As I thought about it, I was frustrated at Pharaoh’s stubborn heart.  He really didn’t get it when water turned to blood?  Or when he awoke to frogs coming into his palace, his bedroom and even his oven (vs. 8:2-4)?  That was only the beginning!  There were seven more plagues after that until the final plague came: death.  All those drastic measures and Pharaoh still would not listen.  It wasn’t until God did the seemingly unthinkable.  “Every firstborn son will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn cattle as well.” (vs. 11:5)  It was at the death of his son and the waking to wailing through the land that Pharaoh finally listened to the Lord’s instruction and freed the people (vs. 12:31).

I would like to think if he believed in God that maybe he would have listened with the first plague, but I’m not so sure that would be true.  I couldn’t help but know that I was guilty of a stubborn heart as well.  God’s ways of working are different than they were in Old Testament times but still as powerful non-the-less.  There have been many times when God was asking something of me that I just couldn’t seem to let go of.  Again and again he’d press on but my stubborn heart wouldn’t move.  Have you ever felt this way toward God?  Is God asking you to let something go but you’re still hanging on?  Is God asking you to move forward but your heart is stuck?  I pray that our hearts would trust our Lord enough to follow Him even when the path He shows us isn’t clear.  That unlike Pharaoh, we would listen on God’s first prompting.  May you pray this prayer with me:

“Lord, forgive me for the times my heart has been stubborn and not obeyed Your voice.  Allow me to trust you enough to follow you with the first request.  I thank you for not giving up when my heart was stuck.  Develop within me a heart of trusting obedience toward You.  Amen.”