The Caudill Collective

“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt…” – Exodus 7:3 ESV

Have you read this verse and immediately thought to yourself, “Wait, why would God do this?” Well…you’re not alone. Especially through the first trip of reading the Bible, this action has not only caused me to stumble in my reading and understanding but has also challenged my doubt. At a first glance, it just seems harsh; why would the all-knowing and all-powerful God turn someone against Him? Doesn’t He seek to have everyone come to know Him?

Important Note: As with all questions while reading through the Bible, there’s going to be a LOT of things I may be wrong about. I hold these questions/answers with an open hand. It’s also worth noting that sometimes God could play the “Because I said so” card, which means there may not be as much meaning as I make it out to be – and that’s okay! He is our Creator; He gets the final word.

Let’s dive in!

God’s Plan Trumps My Plan

This is true no matter how many days I live my life trying to predict or understand God’s motives. His plan will ALWAYS be above my plan (Ephesians 1:10). As a control-freak, this is a tough pill to swallow, because I want to be the author of my own life. This is where I feel like I can somewhat relate to Pharaoh – as king and ruler over Egypt, I’m sure there were many instances where he not only desired to be the last and final decision, but maybe even expected it after his experience. Suddenly, his world is turned upside down when a couple of Hebrews show up and demand that they be allowed to leave Egypt. Naturally – Pharaoh shows that he wants to be in control, and everything will be on his terms.

Except, it won’t. None of the following events will be on Pharaoh’s terms, despite his experience and his desires. Everything is (and has been) on God’s terms (2 Peter 3:18). God hardens his heart towards the king to ultimately carry out the plan that God had all along – deliver His chosen people to the promised land.

So why did God not decide to go the other way and soften Pharaoh’s heart into having sympathy for the Hebrews? Would that not have resulted in the same result, except this time maybe saving the lives of many Egyptians? I’m not in the position to say – and we can spend our entire lives debating the “what-if’s” of Biblical history (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We know one thing for certain: that hypothetical path was not part of God’s plan and therefore would not have welcomed the results God was after.

He Is Our Creator

God is the one who ultimately has the deciding factor of how He shapes His creation. Hard and soft hearts, sharp eyes and blindness, fertile or barren…the decision will, and always has been, His. He created the men and women in scripture and notes them for a very important reason – to show God’s character.

“How can an evil man display God’s character?” you may ask. It’s such an incredibly valuable question to pose! God is the definition of goodness and of love, so how could He create something that goes against it? Unintentionally circular reasoning – it provides opportunity for us to seek Him (Luke 12:31). God didn’t send the plagues onto Egypt simply to punish humanity; there’s much bigger reasons as to why our Father acts as He does. He was showing humanity His power and His sovereignty over the other gods that Egyptians worshipped (including Pharaoh, who likely felt like a god in his position).

There’s a good reason that people keep saying “God works in mysterious ways”; it’s because it’s 100% true. There are times in all of our lives where we don’t understand why He does what He does…but that’s exactly where faith comes into play (Proverbs 3:5). We have faith as followers of Christ that His will supersedes our own. He has that power.

No Person is Deserving of Good

For me personally, this was the toughest idea to understand while navigating my life walking with Christ. How was I supposed to feel worthy enough to go about my day doing anything at all while acknowledging that we, as people, deserve hell and everything with it? It’s the paradox many, many Christians struggle with…and it has everything to do with knowing where your strength comes from. Does it come from your own doing (like many self-empowerment teachings want you to believe) or does it come from the hand of God?

Being able to understand that we deserve nothing and have the mercy and grace of God through Jesus Christ, gives me ALL of the motivation I need. That’s what separates us from a man like Pharaoh – Pharaoh relied on his own strengths and his own position of power and he felt the glory was all his. Perhaps the hardest thing to wrestle with is that even if Pharaoh followed Moses’ command to let the Israelites go…it wouldn’t have made him any more deserving of good things. We are all sinners, falling short of the design God made for us (Romans 3:23).

In Summary…

There’s not a simple answer as to why God hardens hearts that will put it into a perspective of global understanding outside of the fact that His will creates His world (Matthew 6:10). We have to have enough knowledge of God’s character to be able to leave it within His hands and carry on. Truth be told, we as humans are incapable of knowing the reason behind everything that God does – wouldn’t that just make God inferior to us? How impossible and ridiculous does that sound? It’s a humbling thought that I try to consider while searching for rhymes and reasons for things that I may never comprehend.

Until next time!