Do Not Harden Your Heart!

Reading:  1 Samuel 5 - 6

My Verse:  "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharoah hardened their hearts?  When He had done wonders and made a mock of them, did they not let the people go and they departed" (6:6)?

This is a rather fascinating statement!  Especially, because the persons that said it were not followers of You, LORD God, they were the "diviners and priests" of the Philistines.  Yet, here they saw Your hand in what was happening.  They knew the history of what You had done to the Egyptians when they would not do what You had asked them to do and that was to let the Israelites go free.  They, these "diviners and priests" recognized You as the all powerful God.  They knew what needed to be done. 

These "diviners and priests" knew that ignoring You and "hardening their hearts" was not the answer and could lead to more disaster.  Often we try to get out of doing the right thing and end up paying for it.  These "diviners and priests"  pointed this out by stating.  "When He had done wonders and made a mock of them, did they not let the people go and they departed?"  Yes, the Egyptians paid dearly for "hardening" their hearts against You, LORD God. They paid dearly and ended doing what You demanded despite their attempts to disobey You.

This has always been a hard thing for me to understand - that there are people out there who recognize You for Who You are and yet still refuse to submit to You.  They simply will not allow You, LORD God,  supremacy over their lives.  And oh how they pay for it, not only in their own personal life but this stubborn disobedience affects all the people in their lives, especially their loved ones.

The lyrics to a song keep coming to me, "just believing in living is a hard way to go."  I do not understand how anyone could be satisfied with "just living." I do not understand how one shuts You out.  How one turns their mind off to You.  Hardening ones heart is most dangerous. It is a very slippery slope that simply gets more slippery and the slope steepens as one continues to shut You out, LORD God.  You show this throughout the Bible, how when people harden their hearts You will come to a point where You make it harder for them to turn to You, as You did with Pharaoh.  "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses" (Exodus 9:12).

Oh, LORD God, thank you for drawing me to You.  Thank You for enabling me to see You as Truth!  I pray for those about me who continue to turn their back to You.  Help me to be the kind of person that would help them to see YOU!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!