Day 994: Bargaining with God - Exodus 8 vs 25 - 32

25 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26-27 But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.”

29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 30-31 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go. Exodus 8:25-32 English Standard Version

We're still looking at the account of a great contest that took place nearly four thousand years ago. The God of Abraham had sent Moses and his brother Aaron to the ruler of the mighty nation of Egypt, telling him that he must allow the Israelites to go out of Egypt to offer a sacrifice to Him. But Pharaoh refused to do this. So God gave some amazing signs to let Pharaoh know just who he was up against, and who he was defying. One of those signs was a great swarms of flies that came into the Pharaoh's house, and the houses of his servants. And all the land of Egypt was ruined by the swarms of flies.

By now, Pharaoh was beginning to realize that the God who Moses and Aaron served, was much stronger than any of the imagined gods of Egypt. So he tried to make a deal with God by saying the Israelites could sacrifice to their God, “but only in the land of Egypt”. Moses explained how that wouldn't work, because the Egyptians would find the type of sacrifices the Jews offered offensive. So what was the next step of Pharaoh's bargaining with God? (vs 28)

He have permission for them to exit Egypt, but they were not to go too far. The Egyptians didn't want to lose their slave labour force! According to Pharaoh, God's side of the deal would be to remove the plague of flies. God kept His side of the deal, but how did Pharaoh respond? (vs 32)

He hardened his heart yet again, and didn't do what he'd promised. And isn’t this the case of many people who want God to do something for them, and only then will they believe in Him, or do something for Him? After the sign God had given of the Nile river turning to blood, we were told that “Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he wouldn't listen.” And when his magicians had copied that miracle, we were told that “Pharaoh turned and went into his house”, and,“didn't take that sign to heart”.

The Lord then sent a plague of frogs. Pharaoh pleaded for the frogs to be removed, and God did that. But, once again, we were told that when Pharaoh “saw that there was a respite”, he hardened his heart and wouldn't listen. The same thing happened again after a plague of gnats had covered the land. So we see that there's been a steady progression of defiance on Pharaoh's part. And we see too that this process is described as someone 'hardening their heart.'

There's an Old Testament verse which says “Whoever is stiff-necked after being corrected many times, will suddenly be broken beyond cure.” (Proverbs 29:1) This stiff necked stubborness is the result of hardening one's heart. Oh let us be very careful of trying to bargain with God. We mustn't put Him to the test by demanding He do certain things for us. Rather, whenever we read God's word, it should be our delight to want to do His will. Jesus said “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28)