The Chicken or the Egg? Exodus 7
What came first, the chicken or the egg? Well if you believe in creation you are going to say the
chicken, right? This unendingly cyclical question points us to todays passage of Scripture. The Bible tells us that we have free will, yet we know that no-one can stop God's plan. Philippians 1:6 says that "He will finish the work that He started in us". Romans 8:28 says that " He causes all thing to work together for good, to those that are called according to His purpose". We know that the book of Revelation is not a "maybe" thing, and there are people with free will involved in that prophecy.
There are many places in scripture that states; people can make choices. We can choose to follow our flesh or the Holy Spirit. We can choose to feed God's sheep, love on another, walk with the Spirit or be dragged away by our own evil desires (James 1:13-15)
God is not bound by our choices to accomplish His will.
God knows our hearts and I don't think for one second that He is baffled by our behavior. Let me say again; God's will is not dependent on our choices. God knows how to draw us to Himself. He knows our thought patterns and what motivates us. He knows how to bring us to our knees.
We could spend days arguing about how God brings about His plan in our lives, and free will, however it wont change who God is or His plan. We cannot comprehend the mind or being that God is, we can however accept, trust and walk.
We are told seventeen times in Exodus that Pharaohs heart was hardened. Nine out of those seventeen times the Bible states that God hardened Pharaohs heart. Other times we are told that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, or it just doesn't state who was responsible for the hardening, it just says Pharaohs heart was hardened.
God knowing Pharaohs heart and mind knew that the acts Moses was conducting, the things Moses was asking of Pharaoh, and the pride involved for Pharaoh to give in; Pharaoh believed himself to be a god, would cause Pharaoh's already hard heart to harden all the more. He also knew exactly what it would take for Pharaoh to concede to God's power and let the people go.
Quote by "Canon George Harford"
There are three forms of the word used in reference to hardening: (1) hard; (2) self-hardened; and (3) God-hardened; raising difficulty, but a little reflection lightens the difficulty. In all human conduct there is a mysterious combination of man's choice and God's enabling. God uses events to produce opposite effects upon different characters, as fire melts wax and hardens clay. Assertions of God's sovereignty must not be isolated, but interpreted in harmony with His moral rule. Thus read, the cumulative assaults upon Pharaoh's resolution call forth one of the most dramatic exhibitions of the vacillations of man whose conscience has been weakened, or silenced, by self-will.[5]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+7
There are many places in scripture that states; people can make choices. We can choose to follow our flesh or the Holy Spirit. We can choose to feed God's sheep, love on another, walk with the Spirit or be dragged away by our own evil desires (James 1:13-15)
God is not bound by our choices to accomplish His will.
God knows our hearts and I don't think for one second that He is baffled by our behavior. Let me say again; God's will is not dependent on our choices. God knows how to draw us to Himself. He knows our thought patterns and what motivates us. He knows how to bring us to our knees.
We could spend days arguing about how God brings about His plan in our lives, and free will, however it wont change who God is or His plan. We cannot comprehend the mind or being that God is, we can however accept, trust and walk.
We are told seventeen times in Exodus that Pharaohs heart was hardened. Nine out of those seventeen times the Bible states that God hardened Pharaohs heart. Other times we are told that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, or it just doesn't state who was responsible for the hardening, it just says Pharaohs heart was hardened.
God knowing Pharaohs heart and mind knew that the acts Moses was conducting, the things Moses was asking of Pharaoh, and the pride involved for Pharaoh to give in; Pharaoh believed himself to be a god, would cause Pharaoh's already hard heart to harden all the more. He also knew exactly what it would take for Pharaoh to concede to God's power and let the people go.
TIDBITS FROM EXODUS 7:
- God commissions Aaron to speak on Moses behalf, however Moses will tell him what to say as he gets the message from God. (this is the definition of a profit)
- The miracles that happen in the 10 plagues cannot be denied without denying who God is. These miracles are meant to show that He is God, to deny them would deny that He is God. Each miracle was preceded by a prediction of what would happen and halted and God's word. This was not natural phenomena
- We don't know why Pharaoh went to the Nile in the morning, as we see Moses meet him there. We do know that he did. It could have been ceremonial, as the Egyptians worshipped the Nile, a ritual or a habit.
- We see the first plague: the Nile becomes blood and undrinkable, the fish die, however the Israelites are not effected.
Quote by "Canon George Harford"
There are three forms of the word used in reference to hardening: (1) hard; (2) self-hardened; and (3) God-hardened; raising difficulty, but a little reflection lightens the difficulty. In all human conduct there is a mysterious combination of man's choice and God's enabling. God uses events to produce opposite effects upon different characters, as fire melts wax and hardens clay. Assertions of God's sovereignty must not be isolated, but interpreted in harmony with His moral rule. Thus read, the cumulative assaults upon Pharaoh's resolution call forth one of the most dramatic exhibitions of the vacillations of man whose conscience has been weakened, or silenced, by self-will.[5]
DIG DEEPER:
Read Exodus 7;https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+7
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