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And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. - Isaiah 58:11

I’ve been meditating on this verse lately and its amazing how God continues to remind me of the same lessons over and over again in my life even when I don’t learn from it. Why do we get angry or disappointed? I realize we spiral into bouts of depression and bitterness in our lives when our expectations are not met. Why do we consistently have these huge expectations from other sinners like us when the Bible consistently tells us that the Father is the only one that will never fail us.

Here is an example that I thought of from my life. When I was younger I remember my friend had a cocker spaniel that was super dumb, and no matter how hard I tried to teach it new tricks, it would refuse to listen. One time I was dog-sitting for my friend and I tried a million different methods to teach the dog how to sit but no matter how much I yelled it was almost like it wasn’t listening to me. After almost an hour of frustration and disappointment, my friend came back to pick the dog up and laughed when I told him about hard I tried to teach him how to sit. What I was surprised to hear was that the dog was deaf and of course couldn’t hear any of my commands and lessons. I realized that I had these huge expectations for this dog that it could never physically meet and no matter how hard I tried to teach or yell at him it just wasn’t possible for him to listen to me. I felt so stupid for feeling frustrated at a dog that could listen to 

I think this is how we look when we put these huge, silly expectations for other people in my life. I think that instead of loving my fellow brothers and sisters around me I have fallen into a cycle of investing in my relationships, expecting a huge amount of love and commitment back, not having those needs met, and finally becoming disappointed or bitter. If we put our trust and hope in sinners like ourselves of course they are going to fail us, that is why God says that we must put our trust and hope in Him. By putting our faith in the One that who will never fail to love us and give us grace we will be filled with the joy to interact with our fellow brothers and sisters in a free manner. We will be able to love and serve each other without expecting anything back because we have already had those needs met but our loving Father. Do you see the difference? We shouldn’t build relationships based on what we’re going to get back, but we should look to Christ as our satisfaction and energy and reflect that on those around us. I think if I am able to fully grasp this concept and put my faith and trust in God alone, I will save myself from a lot of hurt and become a better a brother to everyone around.

I was reading Exodus, part of my daily reading plan, today and one thing caught my eye that I wanted to write about. Of course we all know the story of the plagues and to be honest I find myself skimming these parts of the Bible because I’ve heard the stories so much in Sunday school, but there are so many deep things that you can glean from these passages. In this first verse, you see the Pharaoh actually asking for FORGIVENESS after the eight plague, the plague of locusts..

Exodus 10:16
“Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”“

..but then Pharaoh changes his mind and does not let Moses and the Israelites go and worship because he would only allow the men to go. After the next plague hits (the plague of darkness) you see Pharaoh actually ALLOWING Moses and Aaron to go worship and leave Egypt..

Exodus 10:24
“Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”“

..but once again Pharaoh’s heart is hardened and he does not let the Israelites go.

So.. what’s going on? I was thinking really hard about this and the path that Pharaoh takes in his unrelenting heart when it comes to doing God’s will by letting His people leave Egypt is the same exact path that we take when it comes to sin. Do you have a sin in your life that you find yourself asking for forgiveness for every single day? Look at how Pharaoh reacts, he first confesses his sin, and then asks Moses to pray for his forgiveness. Isn’t that what we do in our prayers every day? With our mouths we always confess our sins and ask God for forgiveness, but in hearts, just like Pharaoh, we do not surrender ourselves to God. That’s the main point that I think God is showing us through the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. He is showing the pattern of a sinner, of one who says all the right words but does not really want to change his heart.

God says that once we put our faith in Him and His son Jesus Christ that we are a new creation. As sinners I think we will many times long for the instant-gratifications of our past life, but the reward that is stored for us in heaven and the grace and mercy that is given to us through His Son will be much more satisfying than anything we can find on this Earth. Genuine confession and forgiveness should always have genuine surrender follow it or it is not genuine at all. So when we sit down and pray tonight before we sleep and go into our routine of asking God for the same sin for the millionth time in a row, let’s look deeply at our hearts and examine if we are truly surrendering that sin, and the rest of our lives, to God, and if we are not lets ask God for the strength to give ourselves up to Him and not be like the Pharaoh, who’s unrelenting heart led to not only his own destruction, but the destruction of his son, his family, and his whole nation.