The Hardened Heart

                    "But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his
                            heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said." 
                                                        ~Genesis 8:15


It's been an exciting journey for me to once again read through the Bible and have been reading through the book of Exodus at this time. Of course, in the earlier chapters of Exodus, we read through the story of Moses, Pharaoh, the ten plagues, the freeing for the children of Israel, and the parting of the Red Sea. But this time, I'd like to discuss Pharaoh's hardened heart and the hardened hearts in today's world.

First, Pharaoh would see the plague and then plead for Moses to take away plague. He'd promise to free the Israelite children; but each time, he would change his mind to keep them enslaved. Plague after plague terrorized the nation of Egypt, and each time there was relief from the plague, Pharaoh's heart became hardened. When we read the story, we may be amazed at Pharaoh's stubbornness. I mean, to see things from rivers turning into blood to locust destroying the crops from the land being covered with frogs to witnessing the first born of every Egyptian and beast killed. If we had been the Egyptian people, we might have tried to overthrow the crazy Pharaoh and let God's people go to worship Him before the rest of us were literally destroyed. Instead, in this time and now, we can learn from Pharaoh's mistake and avoid the tragic consequences.      

So what lesson can we learn from Pharaoh's mistake?


How often are we like Pharaoh? We promise God that we will serve Him if only He would take our pain and difficulties away, just to turn back to doing the things we had been involved in before the struggles started. We are no better than Pharaoh if we are "Foxhole Christians", we see that the problems we're facing aren't going away so we promise to obey Him...that is until the problem is gone. Then we have the tendency to turn back to the activities that are not God-focused.


The first plague, the water turning into blood, should have been enough to convince Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go, right? The water was literally undrinkable, the source that keeps the living alive is now contaminated and stinks throughout the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh promises to free the people if Moses will intercede. The second plague brings frogs into the land and they can be found in the entire land of Egypt. They are jumping into the houses, in the "kneading bowls" (Exodus 8:3), into the beds, into the kitchens... they're everywhere! Pharaoh calls for Moses and pleads him to intercede and then the children of Israel may go worship God. Well, we know he didn't keep his word. So God sent lice, flies, livestock disease, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. Each time Pharaoh made a promise and later broke it. It became a vicious cycle! And then the ultimate plague struck the land. You could say it was the 'one that did it'. Not only was Pharaoh's son killed, but the firstborn child of every Egyptian servant and animal died that night as well. Only were the children of Israel saved from the deaths and plagues.

It's a clear sign that God protects His people as He promised He would. God is with you, too, in whatever you're going through. He heard the cries of the Israelites and He rescued them from their great oppression. God also hears your cries and He listens. But get this: He knows that you need to experience difficulties. Not because He doesn't care about you. But if you never went through trials, you wouldn't grow Spiritually and you wouldn't grow closer to Him. It's in the pains of this life that make us rely more and more on our dear Savior.


"But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses". (Exodus 9:12)


Until the sixth plague--the boils--Pharaoh was hardening his own heart. As a documentary by Dr. Charles Stanley sums it up this way: "To this point in the story, Pharaoh had hardened his own heart. But now, God hardens his heart. Willful disobedience can reach a point of no return." If we continually harden our hearts, it becomes a habit we can't break on our own strength. Pharaoh hardened his heart so many times that it finally resulted in his death and the death of his armies. It certainly does have serious consequences, friends. Ask the Lord to remove the stubborn stone around your tender heart to break off and completely trust in God's plan.  


"But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." (Exodus 9:16)

We don't always understand the circumstances that God lets us go through or why He allows adversaries to stand in our way to give us grief like Pharaoh did to Moses and the people of Israel. But God is our powerful God and He sometimes raises up even our enemies in order to show the world His power. But He doesn't always just demonstrate His might to the unsaved, but He does so to remind His people that He is still in control. Sometimes because we can't see God, we can forget He is there and that He is still mighty. God gives us those reminders and we can give thanks to Him by remaining loyal to Him and having a "healthy heart".

In conclusion, we may come across many politicians, parents, friends, co-workers, and even preachers who have hardened their hearts to God and His Word. We need hearts that remain tender to the nudging God gives us when He is trying to tell us to listen. God listens to us, let's listen to Him.


Anna

Hymns..A Church Formality?

"Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing: My God and King! The church with psalms must shout, No door can keep them out, But more than all, the heart must bear the longest part. Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing: My God and King!" ~from "Let All the World in Every Corner Sing" by George Herbert and Robert G. McCutchan

"The church with psalms must shout..."

Much discussion and confusion has come through the choice of music brought into the churches with the youth bringing forth their tastes of newer praise music that we call "Contemporary Choruses". It is what they are growing up with from concerts to iTunes from Christian Book stores and radio stations; just as the older people in our communities grew up with hearing the traditional songs on Sunday mornings. Psalm 98:4 tells us to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise". Whether we sing praise with the modern songs or with the hymns, God can be glorified when we lift our voices to praise His name.

However, some youth are as receptive to the hymns as older adults are to choruses. I have grown up mostly playing older songs myself, but there are some choruses that I feel I'm truly expressing worship to the Lord. What I have a problem with are the arguments like: "hymns just don't speak to me like the choruses". In other words, people are trying to nicely say "out with the old and in with the new". I think we should look through this argument.

"Hymns just don't speak to me like the choruses"...

This opinion can also be translated as "The words are Greek to me!" I assure you that they aren't. Please note that I am not condemning the choruses of today; rather, I am condemning the opinion that hymns are outdated and have lost their meaning. Now let's take a look at one of the hymns I chose for yesterday's service and compare its lyrics to that of a modern contemporary worship chorus:

"There is Power in the Blood" by Lewis E. Jones

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you over evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

Refrain:
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder-working power.
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

And now a chorus that Hillsong sings called "Redeeming Love"

(chorus)
"I come boldly, trusting only your redeeming love
Flowing freely from your side now your atoning blood
Like a river, like a fountain, like a cleansing flood
I pour out my worship to you for your redeeming love

"My glory in your cross of shame and suffering
My glory what the world disdains as nothing
I will glory in such foolishness
I will glory for its nothing less
Than your wisdom and your awesome power my God."

You see, when we strip the lyrics of the different music styles, the words amount to the same thing: "The blood at Calvary saves and redeems us. What love!" Some people are inclined to think that hymns are slow and boring. Well the music may be slow, but the words are still as praiseworthy to sing today as they were in the 19th century!

Let's look at another example:

"I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters [He] lifted me--now safe am I"
~from Love Lifted Me

"I know He rescued my soul,
His blood, He covered my sin, I believe, I believe.
My shame, He's taken away,
My pain is healed in His name, I believe, I believe.
~from My Redeemer Lives by Reuben Morgan

I'm not writing this blog post to contradict your stand on either style in churches; but to ask you to remember that worship is worship and to not neglect the hymns that are as real as any chorus you'll sing today. God is as real as ever and it should be our delight to sing songs of praise to Him. I encourage you to ignore the music if you need to and simply focus on the words you are saying. Listen to the words as you sing them in church. I believe you'll find that hymns are not a "thing of the past" or that the "church needs to update its music to 'fit' the new, young Christians". Any Christian song, whether contemporary or traditional, is to be sung to the Lord on high and to give Him the praise for which He so richly deserves!

End of the Church?

As I was outside helping my Mom burn some brush tonight, I couldn't help but think about the church and the responsibilities that lay inside and outside her walls. She stands tall with her steeple reaching high to the heavens. Her bells used to be tolled to invite all those listening to come and walk through her white doors with stained glass windows. Those bells toll no longer. The white paint on her doors are chipped and her windows now dusty with cobwebs. Few people walk through the doors and sit in the once packed pews. Fewer and fewer people join in singing praises to God. The church used to rattle with a thunderous boom of voices singing song; now, an echo maybe fills a few cracks on an Easter or Christmas Sunday morning.

The church is not as majestic as she used to be and she certainly is not our town's most important building any longer. The members from past decades were on fire for the Lord and would bring their family and friends each and every Sunday. Family vacations never took the place of church, so everyone's shadows would rest on her doors each and every Sunday morning. Now time has past, and those members have passed on; leaving a new generation of "Christians". Vacations and get-aways come first in this new society, so church is usually passed up on. People are living a dead faith and children going to Sunday School is as optional as joining a sports team.

What has happened? Has the church age come to an end?

Perhaps the church age is coming to an end; but people's faith or lack thereof is causing the Spiritual decline in our nation and in the rest of the world. If Christ's people are not on fire, who will testify? We have mouths, but will we let the rocks cry out instead? It has nothing to do with the church or a "church age". It's all about God, Who is ageless! He is present, past, and future. The church building will pass away, be destroyed. It is God's temple here until He says 'No more'. For many Christians, the church is something we go to on Sunday and forget about for six days. The church is not to be worshiped or adorned; but it is God's house. A place to worship in and adorn Him in! We are to take care of it, to grow in numbers. And we can only grow in numbers if we are willing to take the torch that has been handed down to us by our predecessors: Jesus' disciples. They were the light in a dark world and preached anywhere and everywhere. It's not about a pastor preaching for an hour on Sunday; it's about our responsibility to reach the lost. Where they are.

"If the dog doesn't come home on its own, go out and search for him". We must do the same for the lost "sheep". We cannot expect the sheep to come to us, the church. They have no ear for the Master's beckoning. The Master has asked us to find those lost sheep and to tell them the good news. We have to meet them where they are in order to bring them in.

So in conclusion, does it matter if this is the end of the church age? No. What does matter is that any age, right now, last spring, 2,000 years ago....it was and still is the "God Age". And that age will last forever!