Seize the Moment – Day 458
How to Soften a Hard Heart!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, June 18.
Have you ever felt your heart harden towards a situation or a person?
You know you should apologize to someone, but you don’t want to. You know you should forgive someone, but you are not yet able to do so and truly mean it. Those are realities of a hard heart.
Exodus 8 covers three of the ten plagues: the plague of frogs (verses 1-15); the plague of gnats (verses 16-19); and the plague of flies (verses 20-32).
How did Pharaoh respond to each of these three plagues?
Pharaoh promises to let the Israelites go if Moses would give them relief from the plague, which Moses did each time by interceding to God on behalf of Pharaoh. Amazingly, God responded to Moses’s intercessions by taking away the plague.
Unfortunately, like many people, Pharaoh had another response after receiving relief from his suffering. He forgot and hardened his heart! Exodus 8:15 says, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.”
Obviously, this did not surprise God, but why does it surprise us? This is an everyday struggle of the human condition—we so easily and quickly forget!
Forgetting is one of the main reasons our hearts become hardened! That is why Peter says in 2 Peter 1:9, “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”
We must remember from what we have been saved! Because of grace and mercy, God has delivered us from death and darkness.
What has God delivered you from in the past? Are you thankful? Have you forgotten?
Seize the moment and soften your heart to God by remembering His grace and mercy towards you. You are forgiven and free because of the Cross of Jesus Christ! Make it a habit of your life to practice thankfulness and to remember daily!