Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, good morning. It is Monday. It's July,
almost said May July twenty one, twenty twenty five. Hello,
my name is El David Harris. I am your host,
and this is your Daily Portion where we give you
God's word every single day, and today is no exception.
We are continuing in our Lesson study series through the
Book of Exodus, and our caption for today is who
hardened Pharaoh's Heart? Did it? Who hardened Pharaoh's Heart? We'll
get into that in just a moment, but first I'd
like to say welcome to you and ask you to
go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join
our online community. Please pick up your Daily Portion Life
application guide and also let us know where you are
in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. This
is one of the ways that we continue to build
faith and fellowship. Let me just say a great big
shout out to those who are listening on the radio.
You are on almost two hundred radio stations around the world,
and I'm thankful that God has given us the privilege
of connecting in this way. Let's go ahead and pray,
and then we will get underway. Father, we do thank you.
We thank you for this day and for the privilege
that you've given us to see you, see your characters,
see your love for us, and your patience and your
judgment in your word. Please help us to live on
the side of love. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen
and Amen again. All right, Who done it? Who done it?
Who hardened Pharaoh's heart? Now that is an overarching question
in a lot of people's minds because they get caught
up in language in the Bible. But let's just go
ahead and begin with Signs of the Times article from
March four, eighteen eighty, and it reads God gave Pharaoh
opportunity after opportunity to reveal whether he would receive the light.
It was Pharaoh's own pride and stubbornness that caused him
to resist the evidence. Now let me just say this
is just, this is in alignment with the character of God.
Everywhere you see in scripture, you see where people are
given the opportunity. All of us, one hundred percent of
us listening or watching, or who will ever listen or watch,
have been given opportunity to either say yes to God
or to continue down the pathway of sin toward eternal
separation from God. Like that is an opportunity. It's a
choice for all of us. And this is no different
In the book Patriarchs and Prophets, page two hundred and
sixty eight, God did not compel Pharaoh to be stubborn,
but the monarch resisted every appeal, thus placed himself where
God could no longer influence him without destroying his freedom
of choice. That's the end of the quote. All of us,
I'm gonna say it just one more time. All of
us have the privilege to make the right decision. It
is God that worketh in us both to will, that is,
to have the desire to do God's will and to
do and to actually accomplish it of his good pleasure.
All of us have this privilege, and so we can't
blame God when when humans decide to press against that
and never do his will. In the end, the Bible
reads and it talks about it. In Romans chapter nine,
verses seventeen through eighteen, Paul says God raised Pharaoh to
show his power, but his but this follows Pharaoh's rebellion.
So God used him as a case study. This is
the way not to go. It wasn't that God forced
him to do the wrong thing. That would be ungodlike.
And there's so much more, so much more. From Proverbs
chapter twenty nine and verse one, he that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck shall stubbornly be destroyed. So God is
going to accept the choices that we make. And that's it.
That's it, okay. And so the context for this is
Pharaoh lived in a world where he was worshiped as
a god. We talked about that in the God versus
God's Lesson. God sent clear signs through Moses, each giving
Pharaoh a chance to surrender, but each refusal deepened Pharaoh's resistance.
So who done it? Eventually God's mercy reached a point
where it could it would violate his own character to
override Pharaoh's free will. At that point, God confirmed Pharaoh's
hardened state as judgment. Okay, that's the way you want
to go. That's the way it's going to be. I
wish I could give you some examples of when when
you know, our son Josiah was little and he made decisions,
and I just allowed him as he decided. Nope, he's
not listening to the correction. He's not deciding to go
the way that mommy and Daddy were teaching him. In
those moments, I just said, Okay, that's the way you
want to go. I don't recommend it. Here are the
options to go in the right direction. Here is the
power to do the right thing. Until we get to
the point where it's like, Okay, that's the path you're going.
You're going to go all the way that way. That's you.
You've made the decision. And he learned very early in
life that that was not it. He didn't like the
hard way, you see, all right? And so for our
everyday application, though God speaks again and again, I'm talking
about now on this day in July in twenty twenty five,
while you're listening to me, and while I'm speaking to you,
God is still speaking. He's speaking again and again, and
you can either I can either surrender or resist. It's
my decision. It's your decision. If you keep pushing back,
eventually you'll lose your ability to respond at all. Your
heart does not just reject, it also becomes unable to hear.
So God doesn't force people to be stubborn. That would
be ungodly. He simply allows our choices to stand. That's
why when God forbid, people will be destroyed in the
end of all of these discussions, at the end of
what we call time, but at the end of probation,
and then Jesus eventually comes, and then after the thousand
years are finished and people are ultimately destroyed. This is
why it's a strange act for God. Because God did
not come into the world through Christ to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved. God
didn't send the prophets in the Old Testament to condemn
the world, but that through the guidance that God was
giving through each era of time, that they would be saved.
And so it's a strange act for God to have
to do this because humans have decided to harden themselves
against God. So don't play with conviction. The Bible says
God is not mocked. Whatever we sew, that's what we
ultimately will reap. So don't play with conviction. The same
sun that melts wax, I'm talking about the heavenly body
called the sun, it melts wax, it also hardens clay. Oh,
I think somebody finally got it. Who done it? The
same sun that melts wax also hardens clay. So the
difference is in our decision making process. So let me
run through a few a few action steps in this
regard the danger of repeated refusal. Here is an action
step based on Exodus chapter nine and verse thirty five.
Take immediate inventory of areas that you are resisting God's will.
I'm talking about right now. Get a pen and pad,
get your two thumbs out with your device, and take
an inventory where am I resisting God's will? And then
respond with humility. God, I can't do this without you.
I realize that I have been doing something that does
not please you, which is show me how to live
according to your will? Will you show me how to
amend my ways? Respond with humility before resistance becomes rebellion.
Number two, when God allows your will to lead, we're
going to use based on Romans chapter one and verse
twenty eight. Ask God to interrupt you. Ask him to
interrupt you if you are headed towards self destruction, even
if it is uncomfortable. And then finally, based on Proverbs
twenty nine and verse one, except correction early. The longer
you resist, the harder it will become to return to God.
Make it a great day, peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening.
Speaker 2: Friends.
Speaker 1: Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from the mouth of God. This
has been your daily portion with el David Harris. Make
it a great day.
Speaker 2: Yeah,