Imagine if Pharaoh’s heart was not hardened. Maybe he would have let God’s people go sooner and likely would have tried to take credit for doing so. After a few difficult plagues, surely the people would have been grateful for their leader’s wisdom. However, that isn’t what happened. Instead, there was an even greater purpose in Pharaoh’s hardened heart. Each of the plagues was designed to confront a different false god. Because Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, God was able to strike down 10 false gods, including Pharaoh himself. God did not just beat one Egyptian god, or a couple – He defeated 10 of them and showed that He, the One true God, has all authority and power. He can do what many different Egyptian gods were supposedly needed to do. 

This was the wisdom of God, this was the heart of God, in hardening Pharaoh’s heart.

• Why is it important to hold God’s sovereignty and your responsibility in balance? Do you tend to lean one way? Why?