BRAGADAYJAH 190

In reverse order, darkness, locusts, hail and fire, boils, flies, lice, frogs, and blood, not to mention the rod that turned into a snake that devoured all the snakes of Pharaoh’s magicians; and yet it will take one more personal, demonstrative, powerful, act of God before Pharaoh would yield. Someone may ask why did God not just bend Pharaoh to his will at once and end his stubborn resistance. But any one who knows and understands God and God’s ways would know that God’s ways are not our ways. God always knows the beginning from the end; He knows when to bring all things to an end; He knows just how and when all things will come to a conclusion; and therefore, He can allow us to have our own way for a while. On the other hand, God’s word and his ways, though inscrutable in some respects, are ever consistent and infallible. It is God’s nature to be merciful, kind, loving, longsuffering and unchangeable. And so these inherent attributes are always seen at work in God’s administration, in the way He deals with His creation. But, too, God uses people like Pharaoh to show us He is indeed consistent with Himself, and to be examples for us to follow. For all who read this story would have to agree, that God gave Pharaoh every change of turning to him rather than just putting a noose around his neck and drawing him to Him. Yes; it is said that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; but as has been explained heretofore, all that means is that God did not use his Supreme power over the Pharaoh’s heart; He allowed him to be himself. He withdrew himself from Pharaoh’s decision making; and so it is rendered as He hardening Pharaoh’s heart for want of a better human expression to describe God’s dealing with the Pharaoh; But as we shall see shortly, when God was ready to impose his will, the Pharaoh was powerless to do other than to let God’s people go.