Verse
of the day: Exodus 12:31-32 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise,
go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve
the Lord as you have said. 32 Also take your flocks
and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”
Was
this a genuine change of heart for Pharaoh? Had the Lord finally gotten through
and softened his hardened heart? Most of us know that answer to that because we
have read the account and know what happens after this. In chapter 14 we read
that his heart is hardened once again, and he pursues the Israelites. However,
what I would like us to see today is what happened to Pharaoh, and how he
responded to this final plague. It is what happens to many Christians when it
comes to repentance and confession. God sent Moses repeatedly to ask and demand
that Pharaoh let His people go, but Pharaoh hardened his heart against God, and
God ultimately used it to demonstrate His power in Egypt, and the surrounding
nations. All the while, Pharaoh did not seem to be affected by the plagues God
brought upon the Egyptians, until it affected him directly. Sadly, this is how
far too many Christians behave when it comes to sin, and those moments of
rebellion. Every choice we make, and every sin we commit, affects someone. We
are not an island to ourselves, and the greatest thing affected by our lack of
repentance and confession is our relationship with the Lord (Romans 14:7). Throughout
the account of the ten plagues, Pharaoh took a rebellious stance against Moses,
Aaron, and their God. Now, the final plague has come home and taken the life of
Pharaoh’s firstborn. This became a game-changer. Now there was a personal price
to pay for his rebellion and hardening of his heart. However, there is no real
repentance with Pharaoh, and in my opinion, had Pharaoh truly repented, God
would have accepted his repentance and confession. God does not want our empty
words of confession. He sees beyond our words to what is in our hearts. Too
often, we confess, but we do it with no intention of turning from our sin or our
wrongful behavior. We confess because the consequences of our actions have hit
us up close and personal; prior to this, when it affected someone else, we
merely apologized our weak and pathetic apology, but repeated the behavior.
True repentance comes from a heart that is truly mournful for what we have
done, and with the motivation, and intention, to turn away from the evil we
have committed. The fact of the matter is that God gives us plenty of
opportunities to turn and repent before He takes drastic measures to bring us
to our knees. God gave Pharaoh plenty of time to turn from his hard heart and
let God’s people go. He desires that we would see His goodness to us, and turn
from our wicked ways. Romans 2:4 tells us, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance,
and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
Like
Pharaoh, too many Christians only end up confessing because the consequences
end up being too painful, or we are praying that God will somehow relieve the
trouble we are now in due to not heeding God’s Word or His warnings. In
essence, we do not mourn for what we did; instead, we are mournful because our
sin was publicly brought into the light. God desires that we see rebellion and
sin as He sees it, and that we confess it for what it is; but part of that
confession is repentance. We must not leave sin unconfessed in our lives. We
must confess it with a heart of repentance, being truly broken, and committing
to allowing God to help us change. God desires the we reject having a heart
like Pharaoh’s, and have a heart like King David’s; which made him a man after
God’s own heart (Psalm 51; 1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).
No comments:
Post a Comment