30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God.
Even though true faith has not risen in Egypt among the leaders, the Lord stops the hail. I am sure many people grew in their faith that day. I am also sure that many, including Pharaoh, hardened their hearts. Many believed Moses and had removed their livestock from the fields. Those who had listened were very thankful for the warning. I am sure they were thankful they had listened to Moses. But there were many more who did not listen to Moses. Now they were counting their losses and kicking themselves for being so dumb and not listening to Moses. The loss of two staple grain crops in one day must have been catastrophic. This was on top of the losses of livestock. Pharaoh has had an emotional reaction to these losses. He wants them to stop, but he still thinks he is in charge of his world. The Lord is going to teach him that he is not in charge. Pharaoh is a slow learner. Sometimes we too are slow learners. We continue down paths that we know are destructive. We see the lives of those around us falling apart and we don’t learn a lesson from their lives. We often have to make the choices for ourselves and suffer the consequences personally before we learn the lesson. What a shame that we are like this. We are very much like Pharaoh. We are often stubborn and rebellious. Usually, we are not leading a nation as Pharaoh was, so the consequences of our rebellion are not as great. But the consequences still track through time. The next generations will feel the effects of our rebellion. The consequences are not easily removed. Even when there is true repentance, we often have to live with some of the negative outcome of our sin. So the lesson to be learned is simple: chose obedience.
The Arnold Journey 