There have been, and continue to be, times in my life when I
simply can’t believe that someone, or some organization, is treating me a certain
way. Yet very rarely do I think to
myself, “Well, I guess that person/organization is my enemy.” More often I will think, “What more could I
be doing to get that person/organization to like me?” Or: “How could I facilitate this situation
with them in such a way that will bring about a reasonable and palatable result
for both of us? There must be something
God will help me do to turn this nasty thing around. Or perhaps my prayers are not yet adequate for this difficult situation?”
This thinking comes from
a place of believing that God can work anything out for good. Yet, it also can come from an arrogant (sinful) place of thinking I also know how He should do it. You see, my way doesn’t require evil to be crushed;
it requires evil to be changed into good. It's the feel-good ending where everyone wins, and no one or thing needs to be defeated.
(It certainly doesn't require a cross, or my Savior's agony and pain on that cross...)
This week, I’m seeing this as defective thinking on
my part. It became clear to me when I read in
Exodus 14, in two different places, that God was the one who was planning to
harden Pharaoh’s heart - not Pharaoh himself. And this would cause Pharaoh (and his army) to chase after Moses and
the Israelites. Now if I had been Moses,
I would have been inclined to think my prayerful, carefully executed discussion
with Pharaoh had failed when Pharaoh's heart became hard. That I had not
said enough of the right thing in an effective enough way…or that maybe I didn’t
pray enough before I requested that Pharaoh once and for all let me and my
people go. Wouldn't God surely want Pharaoh to become a believer and send the Israelites out with a prayer service that the reformed king would lead?
Until now, I had never really
let this truth sink into my mind and heart: God wanted Pharaoh’s heart to be hard; he wanted him to chase after the Israelites
and scare them half to death. And why? To display His glory and show people that He’s
the Lord!
“I have planned this to display my
great glory through Pharaoh and his whole army.
After this the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord!” (Ex. 14:4 NLT)
God, being God, gets to pick His enemies (which, as His children, become our enemies, and vice versa) and He chooses to harden their
hearts, even when it might make things very difficult for us for awhile. But then, oh then - He stops them cold, and in doing
so, displays His great glory.
Our tactics may seem
more reasonable to us, and we are called to be peacemakers in this world, so I
don’t even think our collaboration efforts are usually misguided, and often He works through them to bring resolution. I’ve just come to realize that I need to
acknowledge, respect and praise Him for His right to declare and defeat my
enemies in His way – for His great glory...and who doubts - for the benefit of His grateful daughter.
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