We are all aware of the fact that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh when Moses demanded that the Jewish people be allowed to leave Egypt. Pharaoh said No, and he said it repeatedly. And we know from our studies of Hebrew that when the Old Testament text says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it means that God accelerated the man’s already-established predilection in the direction of refusal. Pharaoh had already determined on a course of stubbornness in regard to the demand of Moses, and God simply — or rather, in essence — said: “All right. That’s what you want, I will give you more of what you want. You desire obstinacy? I will give you more and more obstinacy. I will give you more of what you truly desire.”
And that is what God does with all of us: He simply gives us what we think we want. You want to be left alone by God and all His scriptures and commandments and all His priorities? Fine. He will give you not only what you want, but more and more of it as well! He will give you an eternity of it! You can spend forever “enjoying” your freedom from any sign or hint of God. You will be forever free from any slightest suggestion of anything associated with God: love, affection, loyalty, purity, sweetness, kindness, charity — all of it will be kept from you in accordance with your wishes. He gives you what you want. And what you want is a direct byproduct of who you genuinely, deeply, are.
On the other hand (mercifully enough), there is the heartwarming promise given to us in Psalm 119:32. This is the complete opposite of what we find in Exodus, and thank God for it. Here the psalmist tells us that
“I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.”
In other words: I will follow the “navigation app” that takes me to Your (God’s) destination, and You will so equip and sensitize and magnify my will and determination that I will follow Your directions until I sail into Your final beautiful harbor.
You see how this is the opposite of what Pharaoh set about? He wanted his own will to be magnified and achieved. The psalmist wants God to give him a heart (will) that is made softer and softer and more and more responsive to what God wants. And that is the path to glory and bliss and immortality. God gives us what we really want, and if we want Him, He will give us more and more of the desire to have Him. If we don’t particularity care for Him, and don’t really want to be bothered with Him, He will give us more and more of that particular desire also. After all, He has already told us — over the course of centuries — which desire we should have.
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