Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
Pharaoh’s heart is one of the great mysteries of Exodus. Repeatedly, we’re told it became hard. His pride, his resistance to God's word, and perhaps even his fear, all compounded into a heart that refused to bend.
Bitterness doesn’t always look like rage — sometimes it’s cold, stubborn resistance. Pharaoh wasn’t the wounded victim; he was the oppressor. But even the powerful can be bitter. His grip on control became his undoing.
Jesus invites us to something entirely different: a soft heart. A heart that listens. A heart that yields. At the cross, we see the King of kings laying down power for the sake of love.
Bitterness calcifies our hearts. But the Holy Spirit can give us a heart of flesh in place of stone. We don’t have to live hardened.
Is there a part of your heart that has become resistant or cold — perhaps without you even noticing?
Lord, I don’t want a hardened heart. Soften me where I’ve grown cold. Help me yield to you and trust your way of love, even when it costs. Amen.
