Exodus 7:8-13 – God desires a pliable heart

In Exodus 1-6, we see how God set up the whole situation for this great conflict between Moses and Pharaoh. But peering silently and surely behind the scene, God’s unseen hand was working, gearing and setting up for the great moment when His people would be set free. Their oppression by the Egyptians, the raising up, the preservation of Moses, the calling, commissioning and sending of Moses to deliver them, were all part of God’s redemption plan. The conflict we see in the book of Exodus is more than just a clash between Moses and Pharaoh. It was not just a battle between the Israelites and the Egyptians. In reality, this battle represents a cosmic war between God and Satan, a war between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell. This whole battle is a representation of what God is doing to free mankind from the oppression of Satan and the host of forces of darkness. Like the Israelites, mankind had been captured and oppressed since the fall of Adam. We are all in bondage to sin, guilt, and condemnation. We all need to be delivered from it all. Just as God sent Moses to set the Israelites free, God has sent Jesus His Son to bring us the deliverance.

The conflict between Moses and Pharaoh we are about to discuss is a representation of the supernatural war between God and Satan. In the ten plagues: the blood, frogs, gnats, flies, disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, leading up to the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, were not just natural disasters. They represented the cosmic war God had declared on Satan. The supernatural works of our God, who governs from the unseen realm, are manifested in how He sovereignly uses natural calamities to effect victory in the lives of His people. This whole experience of the children of Israel in the book of Exodus concurs with what the Apostle had said in Ephesians 6:12. “Our conflict is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

These six verses are a precursor of the larger conquering power of God at work. The snake formed from Moses’ staff that swallowed up all the snakes of Pharaoh’s magicians is but a summary of all that would ultimately happen, when Pharaoh’s whole army would be swallowed up in the Red Sea. In verses 8-9, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” Remember Moses was told that He would be as “God” to Pharaoh and Aaron would be his prophet. What had happened was in keeping with God’s plan.  Up to this point, we saw how Moses would keep going back and forth concerning whether he was the right person to be sent. Here he had reached a point of surrender. Hence, from this point on, we shall see him yieldingly submitting to God and obediently did as he was instructed. Like him, our goal in our spiritual journey must come to the point where we will submit to God immediately without hesitation. As soon as Moses started obeying, he found everything God had said just fell into place as He had foretold. God never leaves us stranded. He will provide all the gifts and resources that we need to carry out His commission.

Despite seeing his magicians’ snakes being eaten up, Pharaoh stubbornly refused to cooperate with God. This indicates to us that resisting God is really a condition of the heart and will. When one’s heart is hardened, the will becomes stubborn. This was what happened to Pharaoh. He should have bowed to God and turned to acknowledge His greatness and worship Him. But Pharaoh didn’t. He resisted further with a hardened heart. All these happened as God had predicted, so it came as no surprise. Pharaoh’s hardness of heart sends us a warning. The signs he witnessed did not convert him, not because they weren’t convincing, but because his pride would not allow him to acknowledge God. Often, it's not the signs that we need, it’s our heart that must be pliable before God. As lovers of God, we must always come before Him with a contrite heart. This is what He will not despise. Remember, He gives grace to the humble. So, come humbly before the Almighty.