We, as a nation of people, are in the season of our greatest hope. For those of us who believe in God and believe God, we have the great season of the Resurrection to celebrate.
When Saul, the persecutor of Christians, began to follow Jesus with a new name, Paul, he preached his first recorded missionary message (Acts 13) and did not waste a word. In just minutes, he retraced the history of Israel from Egypt to the coming of Jesus, and landed on the only message of real hope that exists in this world to this very day.
With the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have the total forgiveness of sins, and “everyone who believes is freed!” (Acts 13:38). Freed from sin, death and the grave! Even though our bodies rot in the grave, we have the hope of a life that continues after we have gone through the ravages of sinful decisions, debilitating sickness, disease — the worries of this life.
So, why is hope so hard? Exodus 11 explains. Hope is hard because of life circumstances. This Scripture retells the resistance of the leader of Egypt and the people of Egypt to freeing the slaves of Israel after a 400-year enslavement.
Israel had moved to Egypt, originally a group of 70 people, as a result of a great famine. Under Joseph’s God-led leadership, Egypt and Israel were provided for during a hard seven years of famine.
After the famine and the death of Joseph, a leadership change occurred in Egypt. The new Pharaoh became fearful of the multiplying numbers of the Israelites. The original 70 had become more than a million.
Slavery was the government’s solution; Israel’s life became hard and cruel — a most severe judgment that caused Israel to cry out to God to save them. And in God’s timing and in miraculous ways, he did.
Through a series of judgments on Egypt, 10 to be exact, God’s people found respect in a land of unbelief. The effect of judgment on Israel was a turning to their creator for help; the effect of judgment on Egypt was a turning to hardness against the God of Israel.
Each judgment until the 10th one brought increased resentment and hardness against the God of Israel. The death of every firstborn in the land of Egypt was the breaking point. Egypt wanted its slaves gone.
Here’s the takeaway: earthly-minded people reject humility in the presence of greater power. They resort to denial, anger and consequently become hardened toward the greater power. Their hardening is fueled by a competitive spirit that drives them to want to win when they should bow in worship. It is evident in people who reject the power of God and believe they are self-sufficient.
What is it that hardens people’s hearts and makes hope so hard? It is to view the One who is greater and not embrace Him.
David Woods is a teaching pastor at Park Chapel Christian Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
