Devotional on Exodus

2014 – Mesa Verde National Park, CO

“Does not work well with others.”
Exodus 7: Pharaoh is not going to listen to you
For a true blue “free-willer” like me, Pharaoh’s role in the Exodus is somewhat troubling. Before Moses and Aaron ever meet with him the Lord promises that he’s going to be stubborn. The reason for that stubbornness is because the Lord’s going to make him that way. That’s not how I see God at work in this world. Instead, I see him supplying sufficient grace to people to respond to his call in their lives if they will. In the story of the Exodus it appears that God not only sees Pharaoh’s stubbornness but actually stiffens it even more to create conditions for a spectacular deliverance. So what’s going on here? On the other side of this “free will” coin is “sovereignty.” God is God and he holds absolute authority over all Creation. The reason we have free will is that the Sovereign has granted it. If I abuse the freedom I’ve been granted I’ll answer to him. In Pharaoh’s case, I don’t think the Lord looked into the future and saw Pharaoh remain resolutely stubborn, but I do think the Lord saw his hard heart and, in his sovereignty declared, “So it shall be.” The Lord takes what Pharaoh does in his free will and hard wires it. From that point on he has no other choice. Pharaoh could have been an example of God’s grace. Instead, he becomes an instrument for God’s glory.
Take Away: It’s a dangerous thing to challenge the sovereignty of God.

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