Under Gods Command
Hardening of the Heart
Hardening is like a callus or like the tough bone fibers that bridge a fracture, Spiritual hardening begins with self-sufficiency, security in one’s self, and self-satisfaction. The real danger is that at some point, repeated resistance to God will yield and actual inability to respond, which the Bible describes as a hardened heart. Insensitivity indicates advance hardening. Here are some of the warning signs:
Disobeying-Pharaoh’s willful disobedience led to his hardened heart.
Reference: Exodus 4:21
Having wealth and prosperity-Taking God’s blessings for granted can cause us to feel as if they were owed to us.
Reference: Deuteronomy 8:6-14
Rebelling and being discontented-Suffering or discomfort can create an attitude that blames an attitude that blames God
Reference: Psalm 95:8
Rejecting a deserved rebuke-Refusing to listen leads to a loss of spiritual hearing.
Reference: Proverbs 29:1
Failing to respond Listening to God with no intention of obeying produces an inability to obey.
Matthew 13:11-15
Romans 09:15-19 For he says to Moses, “ I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “ I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he want to harden.
19: One of you will say to me. “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, why did you make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purpose and some for common use?
With this Illustration, Paul is not saying that some of us are worth more than others, but simply that the Creator has control over the created object. The created object, therefore, has no right to demand anything from its Creator-its very existence depends on him. Keeping this perceptive removes any temptation to have pride in personal achievement.
Under Gods command 