{"id":12350,"date":"2021-09-06T16:08:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T16:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=12350"},"modified":"2021-09-06T16:08:26","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T16:08:26","slug":"pharaohs-hardened-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/12350\/pharaohs-hardened-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Pastor John,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m reading through Exodus and wondering why God continued to hardened Pharaohs heart up until the very end? Michelle and I are really enjoying and learning a lot in your Old Testament course. Thank you!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best,\u00a0Kevin<\/span><\/p>\n

=========<\/span><\/p>\n

Good question, Kevin.\u00a0 And the answer is even better!\u00a0\u00a0God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for the same reason He softened ours: that\u2019s what He wanted to do.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul spoke of this at length in Romans 9:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What shall we say, then?\u00a0\u00a0Is there injustice with God?\u00a0\u00a0Absolutely not!<\/li>\n
  2. For He said to Moses, \u201cI will show mercy to whomever I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. So then, it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God, who shows mercy.<\/li>\n
  4. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, \u201cThis is the very reason I raised you up, so that in you, I might demonstrate my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. So then, to whom He will, He shows mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Paul continues with that subject, and you would enjoy reading the rest of what he said in Romans 9, but the above is his point.\u00a0 So, if God has given us a desire to know Him, we are very, very blessed, for if we love God, it is only because He first loved us (1Jn. 4:19).\u00a0 It really is as Jesus told his disciples: “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (Jn. 15:16).\u00a0 We would have never chosen Jesus; he had to choose us and put it in our hearts to come to him.\u00a0 Darren Prater’s song, “I Put It in Your Heart”, expresses this truth so beautifully.\u00a0 Look it up some time.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Thanks for the question.\u00a0 It is an important one.\u00a0 Let’s “rejoice always” in our hope and “walk worthy of the calling” we have received from God.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hi Pastor John,\u00a0 I\u2019m reading through Exodus and wondering why God continued to hardened Pharaohs heart up until the very end? Michelle and I are really enjoying and learning a lot in your Old Testament course. Thank you!\u00a0 Best,\u00a0Kevin ========= Good question, Kevin.\u00a0 And the answer is even better!\u00a0\u00a0God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}