Exodus 8:15

But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not heed them, as the LORD had said.

This verse troubles people. Earlier, the LORD said that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but here it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Exodus 7:22 says that the ability of the Egyptian magicians to reproduce one of the miracles is what hardened Pharaoh’s heart. So, which is it?

It’s all of them. This can seem confusing, but this manner of speaking is normal in conversation.

For example, suppose I describe driving in a nail with a hammer. I may speak of my driving the nail in or I may speak of the hammer driving the nail in. If my description is long, I could even mention both. No one should try to glean some deep hidden meaning from my switching between the two.

When focusing on the details of the momentum involved in moving the nail, I might talk about the hammer. Same for why the nail bent over instead of going in straight. (Of course, then it’s definitely the hammer.)

But when describing how or why the boards were nailed together, I’ll talk about my driving in the nail. There’s nothing mystical about this. Multiple causes for the same things are called “first causes” and “second causes.”

That’s what the Westminster Confession of Faith is referring to when it says (at the end of Chapter III, section 1) “nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”

So here, the LORD is the first cause of Pharaoh’s heart hardening; the magicians’ tricks and Pharaoh’s emotional state are second and third causes.

This aspect of Reformed Doctrine is one of the easier ones to explain.

We’ll hit the others as they come up.

It’s easy to love people who are struggling with things that are not their fault. We pray for unbelieving loved ones, people struggling with illness, and many other things. That’s great, and please don’t stop.

But what about the ones who, like Pharaoh, could have avoided a lot of grief if they weren’t so mean? What about the folks who are hard to love? Even enemies?

They’re the ones who show us up for what we are—in need of growth. We all need to work on the logs in our own eyes.

Ask the LORD to teach us to love difficult people.

Thank God He loves difficult people. Otherwise, where would we be?

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.