Ten Plagues of Egypt
161
How Stubbornness Develops
God speaks to men through His servants, rebuking sin. If one
refuses to be corrected, divine power does not interpose to counteract
the tendency of his own action. He is hardening the heart against the
influence of the Holy Spirit.
He who has once yielded to temptation will yield more readily the
second time. Every repetition lessens his power of resistance, blinds
his eyes, and stifles conviction. God works no miracle to prevent the
harvest. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Galatians
6:7
. It is thus that multitudes come to listen with stoical indifference
to the truths that once stirred their souls. They sowed neglect and
resistance to the truth, and such is the harvest they reap.
Those who quiet a guilty conscience with the thought that they can
change a course of evil when they choose, think that after casting their
influence on the side of the great rebel, when danger compasses them
about they will change leaders. But this is not easily done. A life of
sinful indulgence has so molded the character that they cannot then
receive the image of Jesus. Had no light shone upon their pathway,
mercy might interpose; but after light has been long despised, it will
be finally withdrawn.
A plague of hail was next threatened upon Pharaoh. “Send therefore
[185]
now, and gather thy cattle, ... for upon every man and beast which
shall be found in the field, ... and shall not be brought home, the hail
shall come down upon them, and they shall die.” Such a storm as was
foretold had never been witnessed. The report spread rapidly, and all
who believed the word of the Lord gathered in their cattle, while those
who despised the warning left them in the field. Thus in the midst
of judgment the mercy of God was displayed, and it was shown how
many had been led to fear God.
The storm came, thunder and hail and fire mingled with it, “very
grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it
became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt
all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every
herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.” Ruin and desolation
marked the path of the destroying angel. The land of Goshen alone
was spared.