Hard or Whole?
October 17, 2025
The story of the exodus of Israel from Egypt is a continuous cycle of a plea for freedom of Pharaoh, a hardened heart, then a half-hearted repentance before the cycle begins again. This verse is in between the plague of locusts and the plague of darkness against the Egyptians. Here, Pharaoh is asking for forgiveness of the Lord in the wake of the locusts, and yet 3 verses later his heart is hard once again. He just can’t seem to truly submit his will to the one true Lord and let His people go.
When I read this story, I think of my own hard heart, and you can probably think of times when you were a little bit like Pharaoh. How often do we follow our own desires and plans without even thinking of what God might want? Pharaoh could plainly see the existence of God, and that He was stronger than all the ‘gods’ of Egypt. And yet that wasn’t enough. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice his own desires (to subjugate an entire people group to slavery without end) to follow someone greater than him. He wouldn’t place his heart on the altar of God’s goodness. He was the strongest man in all the land and wasn’t willing to give up his power. Yet how often are we unwilling to give up our own power, even those of us who aren’t world leaders? We make ourselves our own gods and serve ourselves, even worship ourselves if we really think about it. Only Yahweh is worthy of our praise, worthy of our servitude. We like to point the finger and put ourselves in the shoes of the Israelites, but I’m willing to bet that we are more often in a place of the power and pride of Pharaoh than we are in slavery and humility.
As a Christian, our place is to serve others, humble ourselves in love in order to show them the love of Christ. So, my question for you today is simple – where does your allegiance lie? Is your repentance true and lasting, with a heart willing to serve the one true God? Or like Pharaoh, will you turn away within 3 verses and go through a cycle of a hard heart and half-hearted repentance? Here’s the thing, God wants your whole heart, and He deserves it!
Brittany H
’94 / ’08 San Jose Costa Rica
Doris Jean H
’44 / ’55 Manheim PA