“Once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. I have planned this in order to display My glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord !” (Exodus 14:4).

How could God possibly be honored through Pharaoh and his army? This Pharaoh rejects the God of the Hebrews. This Pharaoh refuses to bow to the Lord and refuses to honor His word. This Pharaoh mocks the Lord and afflicts the ones who serve Him. So how can someone who so openly dishonors God before men be used by God to bring honor to God before an entire nation?

What we must understand is that God is absolute truth. His Word is absolute truth. Psalm 46:10 declares, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” God will be exalted, He will be honored. We will prove His Word through the blessings of obedience or through the curses of disobedience, either way He is honored and the truth of His Word is confirmed before all.

Pharaoh gathers his army and he pursues Moses and the children of Israel in order to bring them back into slavery. Exodus 14:8 tells us that the children of Israel are “going out boldly.” Yet Pharaoh is chasing after them. I am sure that, as we say in the South, he is madder than a hornet. His heart is hard and it is full of rage.

Does it perplex you to think of how this man and this nation could choose to chase after these people after they had experienced the awesome power of their God? If this perplexes you, then take a look at Revelation 20:7-9: “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”

This battle comes after the world has experienced the righteous reign of Jesus Christ for a thousand years. The devil is in prison, so therefore, the popular and comical excuse that “the devil made me do it” no longer exists. Yet at the devils release he is able to gather an army to pursue the people of God. We don’t need the devil to build within ourselves rebellion against the truth of God.

O precious one, this is the result of hard hearts.

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is a topic that brings much debate. Many see this as proof that God has already decided who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. Some read verses like Romans 9:17-18, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires,” and see Pharaoh as an example of God manipulating our hearts and not allowing us free will. However, this is far from the truth.

As we go further into Romans 9 we read, “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22-23). On a casual glance at this passage of Scripture most would come to the conclusion that God has already decided who will be destroyed and who will see glory.

Now let’s get past a casual glance at God’s Word and lets move into an intimate one.

The word “prepared” in Romans 9:22 in the Greek is katartizo and it means to complete thoroughly. The statement “prepared for destruction” means that these vessels have already fitted themselves for destruction. Through their actions and their choices they have made themselves ready for destruction. They have been exposed to the truth of God the same as everyone else. Yet, they have over and over again refused to submit to the truth.

You might be thinking now, “Well Pharaoh only had ten chances to submit to God, is that really fair?” The answer to that is, yes, because he actually had a lifetime of chances. Romans 1:19-20 tells us that God has made Himself evident to all of us. He has made Himself evident within us and He has openly displayed His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature through His creation. Pharaoh had all of this on top of the ten plagues. O precious one, he was indeed without excuse, as are we.

When we take the time to seek out God, to interpret His Word through His character, and when we choose to put some effort in the relationship and dig a little deeper we discover amazing things. God does not create just to destroy. No man has ever been created for destruction, however many have chosen to continue on the path of destruction that we all are on because of sin. Sin that we chose to bring upon ourselves.

We must go back to the garden. Adam and Eve were created eternal beings in perfect fellowship with their Creator, but they chose to listen to the lie of the serpent and they brought death upon themselves, their children, and the world. Yet God in His great mercy has prepared for us a way of salvation.

In Romans 9:22-23 we see that God endures the vessels of wrath with much patience in order “to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy.” God endured Pharaoh’s rebellion with patience so that He could make clear to all that He offered mercy. God simply used Pharaoh as He found him. The Scripture said that God raised him up, it did not say that He created him for.

My friend do not forget how God made a distinction in the land of Egypt when He began protecting the land of Goshen from the last seven plagues. His mercy was clearly displayed to the entire nation. All one had to do was move to Goshen. All one had to do was choose “to endure ill-treatment with the people of God” (Hebrews 11:25).

God is soveriegn in salvation but we also have a responsibility. Each time we refuse the mercy of our Creator our hearts grow a little harder. The harder our hearts become the more prepared for destruction we become. We are all born vessels of wrath but God sent His Word, His judgments, His Son, and His Holy Spirit so that we might become vessels of mercy. We must cease striving, stop fighting against the truth that has been clearly revealed, and know that He is God.

Know that He will be honored either through vessels of wrath or vessels of mercy. He is the potter and we are the clay. He has every right to destroy us all, yet He offers us redemption instead. There was darkness in Egypt, but there remained light in Goshen.

O Father, You are worthy of all honor. You are worthy of all praise. Thank You for Your patient enduring of my sin. Thank You for allowing me to experience the consequences of sin. Through the curses found in disobedience to Your Word I was able to clearly see the blessings that come with obedience. The greatest blessing being Your mercy. Mercy that knows that I have been a vessel of wrath, fitting myself for destruction by my rebellion to Your truth, but now through the forgiveness of my sins, through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, I am a vessel of mercy prepared for glory. My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray, Amen.

—submitted by Nicole Vaughn, Proven Path Ministries, US