But Pharaoh became stubborn once again and wouldn't release the people. Exodus 8:32 (MSG)
My wife and I enjoy watching the show Amazing Grace on TNT. The storyline revolves around an extremely broken, rebellious, hard living woman played by Holly Hunter (the show reveals her in all of her broken humanity; it's definitely for mature audiences only). She is given a "last chance angel" named Earl who is trying to help restore her faith in God before it's too late. While I have a lot of theological issues with some of the writers' perspectives, the show raises all sorts of interesting spiritual issues that most television shows completely ignore. The basic question of the storyline is also an interesting one. Is there a point at which a hard-hearted, unrepentant person crosses the spiritual point of no return?
I thought about that his morning as I read about Pharaoh's stubborn heart. It's easy to point fingers at Pharaoh, but how many times has my heart been stubborn? How many times has God tried to teach me a lesson or push me to grow and my stubborn heart refuses to give in to God's obvious plea? How many warnings signs has God posted along the journey that I've completely ignored?
Yet Pharaoh was as stubborn as ever—he wouldn't listen to them, just as God had said. Exodus 7:13 (MSG)
Back when I was in college I had a boss who said that he read through the Bible every year and it was "different" every time. "Not because the Bible changed each year, but because I changed each year," he explained.
The last time I read through the book of Exodus was several years ago. Since then, I've had a lot of experiences in the corporate world and have become a business owner. So, it's interesting to read about the negotiations between Moses and Pharaoh from the perspective of workforce management. Pharaoh had good reason to be stubborn. The Hebrews were cheap labor, and as we all know the Egyptians were known for their rather over-the-top building projects. The idea of letting them take a three-day weekend would wreak havoc on national productivity. Letting them leave the country would be an economic disaster. Pharaoh's stubborn heart may have been a spiritual problem, but it also was grounded in economic and political expediency.
Obedience to God often sends us swimming against the tide of political correctness, worldly wisdom, and popular opinion.
