(Exo) 9:34-35 CJB “When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and thunder had ended, he sinned still more by making himself hardhearted, he and his servants. Pharaoh was made hardhearted, and he didn’t let the people of Isra’el go, just as Adonai had said through Moshe. 

Few passages in Scripture are more sobering than the story of Pharaoh.

Time after time, God confronts him.
Time after time, God warns him.
Time after time, God shows mercy.

And time after time, Pharaoh refuses to repent.

In Exodus 9, after devastating hail, thunder, and destruction, Pharaoh finally seems to soften. He admits his sin. He asks Moses to pray. He promises obedience.

But when the storm ends, everything changes.

“When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and thunder had ended, he sinned still more… and made himself hardhearted.”

Relief led to rebellion.

Mercy led to stubbornness.

Grace led to greater resistance.

Pharaoh did not harden his heart in crisis.

He hardened it after the crisis passed.

This is where many men fail.

Most of us will cry out to God in pain.
We pray when money is tight.
We pray when marriage is strained.
We pray when health is threatened.
We pray when fear is overwhelming.

But when God answers…
When the pressure lifts…
When life stabilizes…

We forget.

We move on.
We return to old habits.
We resume self-rule.

Like Pharaoh, we seek God’s help—but not His lordship.

Scripture teaches that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Every breath, every provision, every rescue, every second chance is an invitation to surrender.

God is patient.
God is gentle.
God is compassionate.
God is slow to anger.
God is rich in mercy.

And yet, many men interpret patience as approval.

We think, “Nothing bad happened. God must be fine with this.”

But patience is not permission.

It is mercy.

And mercy rejected becomes judgment.

Exodus also teaches us something important theologically. Sometimes Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Sometimes God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. Scripture holds both truths together.

God does not force innocent people into rebellion.

He confirms people in the direction they choose.

When a man repeatedly rejects truth, resists conviction, and refuses repentance, God eventually gives him over to his own stubbornness.

That is terrifying.

The greatest danger is not suffering.

It is becoming comfortable in disobedience.

God’s greatest act of kindness was not removing hail.

It was sending His Son.

In Jesus, God stepped into human history to pardon rebels. He took our punishment. He bore our guilt. He paid our debt.

The cross is the ultimate display of kindness, mercy, compassion, and grace.

Every man will respond to that kindness in one of two ways:

With repentance.
Or with resistance.

With surrender.
Or with self-rule.

With worship.
Or with indifference.

Pharaoh chose resistance.

And it cost him everything.

No man will stand before God without evidence of mercy in his life. No man will say, “You never showed me kindness.”

Every heartbeat is proof otherwise.

Woe to the man who dies without reconciling himself to God through Jesus Christ.

Not because God was unwilling.

But because he was.

Run Today’s Play:

1. Remember God’s Mercy
Write down three ways God has shown you kindness this year. Thank Him for them.

2. Repent Where You’ve Drifted
Ask: Where have I returned to old habits after God rescued me?

3. Respond with Obedience
Choose one command of Christ you’ve delayed—and obey it this week.

4. Reaffirm Your Allegiance
Pray: “Lord, Your kindness leads me to surrender, not comfort.”

Don’t let mercy harden you.

Let it change you