2 Corinthians 7:9-10 "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
The Pharoah of Egypt is our example of a man who was sorrowful but not repentant. While many of us know the story and understand the hardness of Pharoah's heart was an attribute of his pride and bellicosity. It was something God eventually held him to so Israel "may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel." Also, "that (God's) wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."
God's mercy was seen in the plagues that He brought into the lives of the Egyptian people. By the third plague, many magicians understand the hand of a greater God than theirs was involved. They said, "this is the finger of God." Pharoah did not listen. This is still where Pharoah's heart was his to harden or not, and he hardened. By the plague of hail, it was said of many Egyptians, "whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharoah hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses." These people showed an understanding of the power of God and acted appropriately. Sadly, "whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field."
Repentance takes an understanding of God and his right to bless or curse and destroy us. In the story of Egypt, those who would not bow to the power of God may have dealt with sorrow when the consequences of their lack of acting rightly caused destruction. While those who acted in fear of the LORD received the blessing of LIFE.
Pharoah's role in this historical narrative is of a person continuing to show sorrow while never offering repentance. Each pledge brought Pharoah to a place of sorrow. He'd call Moses and Aaron into his throne room and beg them to go to their God and pray for him. He'd ask to have the pledge removed. God always honored this request. I am sure many Egyptians joined the ranks of Israel; Exodus 12:38 says, "a mixed multitude also went up with them." It is possible this mixed multitude of people joined the ranks of Israel to become proselytes. We know they were at Mt. Sinai when God made his covenant with these people, along with Israel. That takes repentance showing itself when they responded to God in Exodus 19:8 "Then all the people answered together and said, ' All that the LORD has spoken we will do." We see the sorrow that led to repentance, all deriving from what they experienced from the God of Israel while in Egypt.
Yes, we see that the Bible supports many from Egypt showed a godly sorrow that led them to become part of Israel. The only thing we see from Pharoah is a man who hated the consequences the pledges brought into his life. Even the last and most egregious of the pledges was enough for any man to surrender to the God who had this kind of power, he'd show sorrow, but his actions after would show it was not a godly sorrow that would lead to repentance. It would be enough for him to capitulate and release Israel with everything they had to go worship. But not enough to recognize God as the only True Sovereign. God brought a callousness to Pharaoh's already hard heart that proved permanent for Pharoah, and he'd pursue Israel to his demise. There was no longer an opportunity to repent. This is a real experience for many, Romans 1:26. Hardening in the face of God's great mercy repetitively and refusing to repent can allow God to keep a person in that condition to their death.
When God continues his mercies new every morning, we need to respond in the affirmative. The correct response is godly sorrow from sin to righteous living. Maybe there is no sin, but a need to recognize his command to live by his Spirit and not our flesh in every moment. In the same way, many experiencing exactly what Pharoah experienced recognized that Israel's God was bigger and better than their gods; they acted in line with his power. We need to follow suit. Godly sorrow is the only thing that lines our lives with God's expectations, and we become the people he covenants with through His Son.
Sorrow alone accomplishes nothing, with the exception that we become repeat offenders asking God to take away the pain only to return to our "vomit/folly" Proverbs 26:11. Eventually, it drowns us, or worse yet, we die in a hardened state where God lets us have what we want, we stay sorrowful, but not repentant.
Comments