25/07/09 10:42:59.000 Pastorross | public entry | tags: Shock treatment, Exodus 7, Hardened Heart | report
Exodus 7 - Shock Treatment!
God says to Pharaoh through Moses "You will know that I am God!" If God chose to reveal Himself to a pagan ruler through plagues, how will He reveal Himself to me, a sinful man? It depends on the heart.
My mother has a fairly rare heart condition known as Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy. It is a disease of the muscle of the heart in which a portion of the muscle of the heart is thickened without any obvious cause. It’s a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in any age group and causes disabling symptoms. Apparently with this disease the heart muscle increases in size and causes the heart muscle to thicken. It causes disruptions of the electrical functions of the heart. My mum recently went into the ICU with an irregular heart beat and received shock treatment - electrical impulses to stimulate the heart to beat in time, rather than irregularly.
Pharaoh had some shock treatment to his hardened heart also, in the form of signs and wonders and plagues. God was trying to reveal Himself to Pharaoh. I am no better than Pharaoh, yet when God shocked my spiritual heart it began to function once again as it should. I saw the Cross and was shocked by what God had done for me and the forgiveness that He was offering me and humbled by such an act of love.
When God shocked Pharaoh’s heart it hardened all the more and was headed for certain cardiac arrest.
How does your heart respond to God’s promptings? Are you shocked by your sin and your need to humbly submit to Him and accept His forgiveness? Are you shocked by the Cross of Christ? God says to me as He did to Pharaoh "You will know that I am God!" which means He is in command and I am not.
The first plague turned the river Nile to blood. When my heart is hardened, it only makes things hard for me and others. I can no longer drink that which God provides. I no longer thirst for His Word. I have to work hard to find anything that will nourish me spiritually.
How’s your heart today? Does it need a little shock treatment to get you out of your complacency or even arrogance and allow your heartbeat to keep the right timing. God says to me "You will know that I am God!" I am so grateful for the reminder that I will see Him at work in my life only as I humble myself before my Lord and King today.
God bless you Church,
