Hard Hearts and God’s Glory!

(I know this one is a tricky one. I’m sure it will raise a lot of questions regarding man’s free will and God’s sovereign plan. I’m ready for a debate on this one, and I encourage your comments. But here, I’m just recalling what I’ve found in the Bible, so far. I’m not claiming it’s the full answer, but rather what I’ve observed from these passages I’ve read.)

Now, here’s some more instances where God had hardened people’s hearts. (Read the previous entry, to find out what He did to Pharaoh.)

THE EGYPTIANS

God not only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He also hardened the hearts of the Egyptians. Check it out in Exodus 14:15-18. The Israelites had just made their great escape from Egypt, and they fled and end up at the edge of the Red Sea. Pharaoh had sent his army to chase after them. So they were literally between the devil and the deep blue sea.

So they cry out to Moses. And Moses says:

“Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites. My great glory will be displayed through Pharaoh and his troops, his chariots, and his charioteers. When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord!”

One thing I notice there is that God hardens hearts so that His glory will be displayed. Not the normal way one would think of God being glorified!

SIHON, KING OF HESHBON

On another occassion, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they wanted to pass through Heshbon. Didn’t want to cause any trouble, but just pass through! But King Sihon got rather irrate about it and would let them past. We read in Deuteronomy 2:30 that it was because God had hardened his heart, so that he would be delivered into Israel’s hands.

But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. And the LORD said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’ Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. And the LORD our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. (Deuteronomy 2:30-33, ESV)

Is it that when a person refuses to fear God, that He prepares his heart for judgment by hardening it. And with that judgment comes victory for God’s people. It reminds me of what it says in Proverbs:

“The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” (13:22, NKJ)

ISRAEL’S ENEMIES IN THE PROMISED LAND

After the Israelites had reached the promised land, under the leadership of Joshua, they conquered much of the land, as God had said. So again judgment of the wicked and victory for the righteous go hand in hand. Read the summary of Joshua’s conquests in Joshua 11:16-23. Note verse 20. We see here that God hardened their hearts.

For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses. (ESV)

All these events were foretold way back in Genesis. It was when God made His covenant with Abraham and had promised him the land of Canaan. God told him this in a dream.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

Note firstly the prophecy about Egypt, and we’ve just seen how God fulfilled that. And secondly, notice the phrase “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

The Amorites, according to the footnote in my Bible, represent all the inhabitants of Canaan. God’s judgment must await its perfect timing. And in that perfect timing (in the fourth generation) we see the wicked judged and the righteous exonerated.

We can see this in Psalm 37:5-9, and so be encouraged when we too are faced with injustices.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. (ESV)