The Lord has made everything for his purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. –
Proverbs 16:4
When reading about the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, you may wonder about the phrase, “God hardened Pharoah’s heart.” This may seem counterintuitive. God is merciful and good and not willing any should perish. It’s difficult to imagine God hardening someone’s heart when He is the One who usually softens them. He takes hearts of stone and turns them into hearts of flesh, as in Ezekiel 36:26.
He even uses the acts of the wicked for His purpose. God sees the big picture. He saw the suffering of the Israelites under the hands of the Egyptians. When Moses began the process of speaking to Pharoah to let God’s people go, things initially got worse for the Hebrew slaves. But God used the whole scenario of the ten plagues to mightily deliver the Israelites. Through the desert wanderings, though they doubted His presence and rebelled if they looked at the facts, they could not deny that God was the One who brought them out of Egypt.
Today you may wonder what’s going on with the United States government. Much of it, like Pharoah’s hardened heart, doesn’t seem to make sense. Trust the God who has the big picture. None of this is surprising God. He sees the beginning and the end. Regardless of the circumstances, most assuredly the Heavenly Father wants His children to set their affection on Him, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2).
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