"I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”Exodus 14:4
All throughout the scriptures God seems to be doing a great deal with little means. If he isn't multiplying the oil of a widow (2 Kings 4), he is feeding 5000 with a young boys lunch (John 6, Matt 14, Luke 9, Mark 6). He does the same thing with people. From an old man with no hope of a future he builds a great nation (Gen 12). From a jewish school drop-out, working the family fishing business he makes a great leader of the Church (Peter in Acts 10-11, 15). God loves to do a lot with a little. Moses had just enough faith to say yes when God called, though he threw every excuse in the book at him, and the people of Israel were freed.
God isn't limited to positive examples in this multiplication table. God can also do a great deal with a little self-centerdness. I have been troubled by the amount of times Exodus 4-15 mentions that God was hardening Pharaoh's heart. This has been an age-old question and harsh debate which I doubt will be settled with a modest daily devotional, far greater minds than my own have tried and failed.
Now the regular argument goes something like this...
Problem: If God hardened Pharaoh's heart, doesn't that mean pharaoh had no free will?
but #1: "yeah but, it also says Pharaoh's heart was hardened.. and that pharaoh hardened his own heard too." Drop a little 1 Samuel 6 in the mix.
Response: "Don't skirt this issue, it says several times, even from God's own mouth, that he hardened pharaoh's heart." Throw Romans 9 on the table as a trump card.
...and so on and so forth until everyone is angry and confused.
As I see it, this is just one more example of God doing a lot with a little. To do so, we have to go back to the language this part of the bible was written in. In Exodus 4:21 God says for the first time that he will "harden" Pharaoh's heart. This word in Hebrew, Chazaq, carries many meanings most coming back to some form of "rootedness or strengthening". In other words God is saying, quite literally, that he will strengthen Pharaoh's resolve. This is God doing a lot with a little. The resolve of man caves quickly, but when God has a point to make for all of history, he reenforces that preexisting resolve to meet its end. Isn't that what hell basically is? God says, "fine have it your way." Romans 1 roughly makes this same argument, there comes a point at which God leaves us to our choices and/or even uses them to build his kingdom in other ways.
The simplest answer... God strengthened Pharaoh's already hardened heart and resolve in order to bring about victory for his people and prepare the way for the entire world to receive the saving message of his promise to Abraham through Jesus.
Now we haven't gotten to the good news yet. God can do a great deal with just a little softening too. Think about Nicodemus (John 3), or Zacchaeus (luke 19), or anyone else that hung around with Jesus for that matter. The point is simple, Jesus can do a lot with a little in our lives. This counts in any area we might be struggling with. Just today a good friend who has been praying with me regarding a circumstance in my life gave me a little good news. That news shifted my whole outlook as it reminded me that God is with us in all of our circumstances, doing a lot with a little.
What little do you have for God to multiply? Where might be some hardened areas of our hearts God wants to soften? Join with me and Moses, and countless others in bringing our little to God... see what happens.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
