The message given to Pharaoh each time Moses and Aaron went to him: Let my people go so they can worship Me. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. v. 15. So you may know there is no one like me in all the earth. v. 14. Those verses stood out to me…and their companion…Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go. v. 7. Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and livestock inside. But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field. v. 20-21. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. v. 34.

I have such a hard time understanding how Pharaoh or anyone could keep resisting in the face of such terrible plagues. Why didn’t he let the people go? His country is being destroyed. Imagine you’re one of the average citizens of Egypt. You are experiencing all of this devastation…your livestock killed, festering boils on your body, the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt…and the awful waiting until the plagues are stopped. Will there be more?

Hardened hearts. Do we see them today in ourselves and in others? We read about the fierce hailstorm here and at the end of our family history. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. Revelation 8:6-7.

Why? For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them (Isaiah 6:9-10). Matthew 13:15. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules (Isaiah 29:13). Matthew 15:8-9. We see this being played out all throughout Scripture. We also see the devastation and sorrow that brings to our family…the human race. So what needs to change in our hearts?

Jesus never did what the people of His time expected Him to do. How could He? What they had been doing is what brought on all the misery we see then and today. He revealed His Messiahship to a woman! A Samaritan woman no less! Our ancestor. “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-24. What would God have us do? Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.

If we rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances how can we not turn our hearts to the very God who created everything we see including us. He created us and gives us life. He knows what is best for our hearts not to be hardened and suffer from wrong choices. When we turn to Him, He heals us. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:9-11. Jesus is the gate: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14. In Jesus’ day how few really found Him and followed Him? Very few. Jesus gave His life for all of us…He is the Good Shepherd. We know from Revelation that all nations will be healed (Rev. 22:2). He is more than ready to take our hand and guide us to the way that gives life abundantly. We just need to be willing to listen to Him. Pharaoh didn’t listen. Do we want to? Let my people go so they can worship Me.