Does God Still Harden Hearts?

   When one first reads those verses in Exodus about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, he can so easily arrive at the conclusion that God forced Pharaoh to do wrong. He can decide that man does not have free will for God totally controls the will of man. Is it possible to reconcile these two concepts?

To answer this question let us first consider Pharaoh’s heart toward God before Moses came to confront him. Was his heart “pro-God” or “anti-God”? It was neither. He had lived all of his life with a neutral heart toward God. In fact the first thing Pharoah say’s to Moses is “who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” Now obviously everything changed once he met Moses. He was forced to take a position—either positive or negative toward God’s messenger.

Look carefully at those verses in Exodus. On two occasions before and after Moses confronted Pharaoh, God told Moses that He would harden the king’s heart (Ex. 4:21; 7:3). How did Pharaoh react when he saw Moses’ rod become a snake? He could no longer be neutral toward God, but when the Egyptian magicians duplicated what Moses did, “…the king’s heart grew hard” (Ex. 7:13). When Pharaoh saw the plague of the frogs he told Moses to remove the plague, and he would release the Jews, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said” (Ex. 8:15). God did not force Pharaoh. The king hardened his own heart when confronted by God.

The same reaction was seen after the plague of flies, for “…Pharaoh hardened his heart” (Ex. 8:32). It was the same after the death of the cattle (Ex. 9:12). Read carefully what was said after the plague of hail. “He sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart” (Ex. 9:34). Confronted by the miracles he saw, God indeed hardened the king’s heart (Ex. 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27), but it was Pharaoh who made the decision!

So, what about God hardening your heart? Before you were first confronted with the Lord in your life, you were neutral, but that confrontation forced you to make a decision—you had to make a decision. If your heart was hardened, it was done because the Lord’s gospel forced you to make a decision, but it was you who made the choice. So, whether its Pharoah or us or others, God hardens hearts by confronting people with a choice. The Scriptures tell us we are all without excuse because His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen. (Rom 1:20) We also are privileged to have the complete revealed word of God, and the truth of the matter is we are all put to make a choice, some open their hearts and obey while others harden their hearts. Where is your heart today?

Eric