“And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.”
I want to look at the story of Pharaoh hardening his heart to begin my Thought Life series. God spoke to Moses and asked him to go to Pharoah and set His people free, but God also told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh's heart.
The heart becomes hard from pride, ego, wounding, and trauma. Pharaoh's heart was most likely hard toward God out of pride. Egyptian Pharaohs believed themselves to be gods, so I can imagine when Moses came to him with the demand from the one true God to let all his slaves go, his heart was not soft toward God to comply with this request.
The Hebrew word for "harden" in Exodus 4:21 is ḥāzaq. This word is translated in other places in the Bible as; strengthen, hold, caught, hardened, relieve, encourage, be strong, courageous, and held.
In light of this definition, try reading that passage again.
"I will ḥāzaq his heart." You could just as accurately say God encouraged, strengthened, and held Pharaoh's heart.
Pharaoh's response was to harden his heart toward God rather than to allow his heart to be held and repaired by God. Pharaoh had a choice, and he chose to reject God. He faced the consequences of doing so, but he had a choice nonetheless.
The outcome was based on the receptivity of Pharaoh's heart to God's action toward him. Pharaoh could have allowed God's attempt to lay hold of his heart to soften his heart. Pharaoh could have said yes to Moses right away and turned the mighty nation of Egypt toward the one true God. But he didn't, he hardened his heart and reaped the wrath of God for doing so.
The point is this, as Proverbs 23:7 says, as we think in our hearts, so are we. The way Pharaoh thought with his mind and believed with his heart would not allow himself to be influenced by God. He rejected God's action toward him instead. This is an extreme example, but we do the same thing.
The Hard Heart
You think with your mind and your heart. The mind thinks about your feelings, and the heart thinks about what you believe. Both are irrational and need to be told what to think. The mind needs to be focused on the Lord for self-control and obedience, whereas the heart needs to be focused on the Lord to walk by faith.
Your emotions and decisions are directly affected by the way you think. Pharaoh could have changed the way he thought about God, and his life would have gone in a completely different direction. But when God moved toward him, he rejected God and faced destruction.
We do the same thing. We will reap our destruction when we reject God's strength and wisdom. Why would we reject God at any level? Because our hearts become hard toward him. We harden our hearts for many reasons.
Have you ever tried to love someone with a wounded or broken heart?
They can't receive it because they either don't feel worthy of it or are protecting themselves so fiercely that they reject love because of their past. Whether victimized or engaged in perverted experiences with unhealthy love, all love becomes potentially hurtful. Most efforts to love this person are rejected because this person has an unhealthy perspective of love and builds a fortress around the heart.
So the state of your heart determines what you will allow God (and people) to do for you. God is extending salvation, healing, and deliverance to everyone, but his method is Christ. If people harden their hearts to Christ, they reject God's strengthening, which can lead to salvation, and choose self-effort or destruction.
The heart has to be willing to be healed, which means it must be willing to forgive and stop allowing the trauma to define the identity. The wounded still wants to punish the person who hurt them, so it ends up being rolled over onto whoever is trying to love them. Or there is no self-love because of the perverted life they have lived. Each is equally as damaging and difficult to heal.
If you have been hurt, and it is difficult to allow people to love you, you are hard in your heart to God's forgiveness for you which causes you to continue to harbor unforgiveness for the one who hurt you, even if that is yourself.
You push others away because you despise the shame and are angry with yourself that you're still allowing it to hurt.
Forgiveness and reconciliation break shame and the fortified broken heart. The hard shell cracks and begins to fall away, leaving a tender heart that can finally heal and grow. You've packed the wound with wartime field dressing, and it's time to remove it so the actual healing can take place.
How you think and the paths you walk down in your thoughts will lead to more hardening or healing.
Homework
Reword the following passages into phrases that help you apply them practically. Each passage has instructions on how to think and what to think about, but unless you personalize it and see a way to incorporate this instruction into your daily life, they will remain words on a page.
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts (affections) on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds (thoughts) on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Ephesians 4:22B put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ESV
Here's how I would reword these ideas and truths into personal, practical application.
I will think about things from a higher perspective than fear, depression, loss, anxiety, and carnality because Christ shares His authority with me. I am seated in Heavenly authority in Christ and higher than the things in this world. I am dead to the cares of this world because I live in Christ, and He lives through me.
In any given area of life, I will consider God's truth in the situation instead of thinking about it the way the world thinks about it. I will look for reasons to be thankful. I will think about what is good, honorable, and excellent about the situation rather than all the negatives. I will think like God thinks about it because he has made me new to be like Him in this situation.
I will reign in my thoughts and think about myself in light of who I am in Him and who He is in me. I am as He is, so I have nothing to fear.
Now...develop an awareness of the different areas in your life where you can change how you think and apply these principles. You will not think yourself into success, but changing the way you think will cause you to make different choices and eventually bring about an inner transformation, so living this way is more natural than living according to the world.
