Did you notice the subtle change in the story at Exodus 10?
After the plague of blood, Pharoah’s heart became “hard” and he would not let Israel go. After the plague of frogs, Pharaoh hardens his heart against God’s command. He does it again after the plague of flies and yes, after the plague on the livestock, the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart.
But here, in Exodus 10, before the next plague, the text says “God hardened [pharaoh’s] heart.” Victor Hamilton, former professor of Bible and theology at Asbury University comments: “The point of beginning with such a thought is to show that for Pharaoh, the window of opportunity has closed.”
We’d like to think that there’s always time to come to God, become a person of faith, have God straighten out our lives. But the sad fact is, there is a point where redemption is simply not going to happen. Paul describes it as “having lost all sensitivity” to matters of God.
Are you there?
If you’re concerned about it, you’re not there. But then again, if you have not yielded your life to God yet, there will come a time when you no longer can, because you’ll no longer desire it. One poet put it like this: “On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of countless millions who, at the very dawn of victory, sat down to rest, and in their resting, died.”