by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
“But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said<\/em>” (Exodus 8:15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Pharaoh’s pattern is painfully familiar.<\/p>\n
When things get bad, he cries out. When things get better, he goes right back to his old ways. It’s easy to judge him, but most of us have lived this cycle: Crisis makes us prayerful. Comfort makes us forgetful.<\/p>\n
This verse is a reminder to pay attention to who you become when the pressure lifts. Do you drift? Do you relax spiritually? Do you forget the commitments you made when life was harder? Pharaoh didn’t have an information crisis. He had a crisis of surrender. He wanted relief, not transformation.<\/p>\n
God isn’t interested in temporary attention. He wants lasting change. And that usually shows up not in how we respond during the storm, but in how we respond after it. If God has brought relief into your life, let it deepen your trust rather than dull it. Let it move you toward Him, not away. Don’t let comfort harden what crisis softened.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said” (Exodus 8:15). Pharaoh’s pattern is painfully familiar. When things get bad, he cries out. When things get better, he goes right back to his old ways. It’s easy to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1510,84],"class_list":["post-94762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-prayers","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-pharaoh-did-not-have-relations-with-sarai\/","url_meta":{"origin":94762,"position":0},"title":"How do we know Pharaoh did not have relations with Sarai?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do we know Pharaoh did not have relations with Sarai? Answer: \"So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-god-about-to-kill-moses\/","url_meta":{"origin":94762,"position":1},"title":"Why Was God About To Kill Moses?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton The text of Exodus 4:24-26 seems oddly placed, but it is a separate paragraph from the rest of the text. Moses has been commissioned to go back to Egypt where the Israelites are and tell Pharaoh to free them. Moses thought of excuse after excuse, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29448,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-abram-rewarded-for-lying-to-pharaoh\/","url_meta":{"origin":94762,"position":2},"title":"Why was Abram rewarded for lying to Pharaoh?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read Genesis 12:1-20 and I'm a little perplexed by it. Abram bent the truth concerning Sarai by getting her to say she was his sister rather than his wife when they came into Egypt. I know she was his half-sister by his father, but it was still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2591,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/predetermined-destiny\/","url_meta":{"origin":94762,"position":3},"title":"Predetermined Destiny","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Many people in this world believe in fate or destiny. They feel there is a specific role chosen for them which they must play, whatever their personal choice. John Calvin taught that God predestines some people to be Christians and, if so chosen by God, there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35229,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pharaohs-hard-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":94762,"position":4},"title":"Pharaoh’s Hard Heart","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Bassford There are few Scriptural discussions with more doctrinal overtones than the discussion of what God does to Pharaoh's heart in Exodus. The text does, after all, say several times, \"God hardened Pharaoh's heart.\" It's this way in every translation of the Bible I've ever seen. That's the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rock-heart-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95501,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-wants-everyone-saved-why-does-he-harden-some\/","url_meta":{"origin":94762,"position":5},"title":"If God wants everyone saved, why does He harden some?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Scripture says God wills all to be saved (I Timothy 2:4), yet Paul says that God hardens whom He wills, and that we are not to talk back to God or question why He hardens vessels of wrath such as Pharaoh (Romans 9:16-19) How can the two be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}