By this point, Pharaoh had asked Moses several times to pray that God would remove a plague and agreed to let the people go, but each time he hardened his heart after the plague was lifted. And each time he did this his personal responsibility increased. He clearly saw God answer Moses’ prayer, but he did not truly change his mind and relent. For the first time, we are told that all of Pharaoh’s servants also hardened their hearts against God.<\/p>\n
God is always concerned with hearts because the problem of the heart is the heart of the problem. Jeremiah put his finger on the issue when he wrote: “The heart is deceitful above all things, \/ And desperately wicked; \/ Who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). The NIV translates “desperately wicked” as “beyond cure.” That is a helpful picture because none of us is capable of curing our heart’s sinful nature.<\/p>\n
King David said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, \/ And renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10). David understood his need to start over. David used the same Hebrew word for “create” that is used in Genesis 1:1 when God shaped the universe. It literally means “to take nothing and make something.” Just as God took the dark void and turned it into light, He takes the dark void of a sin-stained heart and turns it into a wonderful, light-filled, new creation. Only God can create something that is totally new, totally fresh, like a complete new start. David cried, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; \/ Try me” (Psa. 139:23). Like David we need to invite God\u2019s Spirit to cleanse and correct our hearts.<\/p>\n
“LORD, please create in us a fresh, clean heart.”<\/em><\/p>\n =============================================================================<\/p>\n\n\n Exodus 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.\u00a02For if thou refuse to let\u00a0them<\/em>\u00a0go, and wilt hold them still,\u00a03behold, the hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is upon thy cattle which\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep:\u00a0there shall be<\/em>\u00a0a very grievous murrain.\u00a04And the\u00a0LORDshall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all\u00a0that is<\/em>\u00a0the children’s of Israel.\u00a05And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall do this thing in the land.\u00a06And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.\u00a07And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. 8And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.\u00a09And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.\u00a010And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0blains upon man, and upon beast.\u00a011And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.\u00a012And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the\u00a0LORDhad spoken unto Moses. 13And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.\u00a014For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that\u00a0there is<\/em>\u00a0none like me in all the earth.\u00a015For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.\u00a016And in very deed for this\u00a0cause<\/em>have I raised thee up, for to shew\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.\u00a017As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?\u00a018Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.\u00a019Send therefore now,\u00a0and<\/em>gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field;\u00a0for upon<\/em>\u00a0every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.\u00a020He that feared the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:\u00a021and he that regarded not the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0left his servants and his cattle in the field. 22And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.\u00a023And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0rained hail upon the land of Egypt.\u00a024So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.\u00a025And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.\u00a026Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel\u00a0were<\/em>, was there no hail. 27And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the\u00a0LORD\u00a0\u00a0is<\/em>righteous, and I and my people\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0wicked.\u00a028Intreat the\u00a0LORD\u00a0(for\u00a0it is<\/em>\u00a0enough) that there be no\u00a0more<\/em>mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.\u00a029And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the\u00a0LORD;\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0the\u00a0LORD’s.\u00a030But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God.\u00a031And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0in the ear, and the flax\u00a0was<\/em>bolled.\u00a032But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they\u00a0were<\/em>\u00a0not grown up.\u00a033And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the\u00a0LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.\u00a034And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.\u00a035And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had spoken by Moses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By this point, Pharaoh had asked Moses several times to pray that God would remove a plague and agreed to let the people go, but each time he hardened his heart after the plague was lifted. And each time he did this his personal responsibility increased. He clearly saw God answer Moses’ prayer, but he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12483"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15849,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12483\/revisions\/15849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}