Just FYI, the drawing for Laurie Alice Eakes' book will be all week. (See below for details)
Anyway, I've been reading Exodus lately, and I came across something I thought was rather scary. When Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to demand that he let the people of Israel go, Pharaoh would not agree. We all know the story of the 10 plagues God sent to Egypt as a result, but what I thought was interesting was that Pharaoh refused or "hardened" his heart 7 times before God finally gave up on him and hardened Pharaoh's heart for him. If you read the text, starting in Chapter 5, you'll see phrases like "Pharoah's heart grew hard" or "Pharaoh hardened his heart" 7 times, then finally in Chapter 9, verse 12, after the 6th plague, it says "But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh" And from then on, you'll see that it's the Lord who forbids Pharaoh to comply with Moses.
What is frightening about that is that I believe God gives everyone chance after chance after chance throughout the course of their lives to accept Him, to seek Him, but I do believe there may come a time that God will remove His hand from a person who continually rejects Him and leave him to his own devices.
In 2 Thess 2: 10-12
"They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness."
This may not seem fair to you, and we may not understand this completely, but it is apparent from scripture, that God can and will remove His hand from someone and cause their heart to harden. But only after He has repeatedly tried to get their attention. Don't be hard-hearted toward God. It only takes one glance in His direction, and He'll open His arms wide to receive you.
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