A Shapeable Heart

Exodus 7-11
Tim Nay

Part of Wanderings & Wonders

Lessons from the Wilderness

June 15, 2025

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.” —Exodus 1:1-6 

God wants ALL people to KNOW Him. 

Why God inflicted the Egyptians:

• Exodus 7:8 “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD…” 
• Exodus 8:10 “So that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.” 
• Exodus 9:14 “So that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.” 
• Exodus 9:16 “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 
• Exodus 9:29 “so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s” 
• Exodus 10:2 “that you may know that I am the LORD.”

It’s IMPOSSIBLE to know God with a HARDENED heart. 

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” —Jeremiah 18:1-6 

Sometimes it takes many hard LESSONS to SOFTEN hearts. 

The Cycle of Breaking a Hardened Heart: 
• Resist God (Exodus 5:1-3) 
• Hardship in Life (Water to Blood; Frogs) 
• “I’m sorry” (Exodus 8:8) 
• Relief from Hardship (Exodus 8:10-14) 

The Cycle of Breaking a Hardened Heart: 
• Resist God (Exodus 8:15) 
• Hardship in Life (Gnats; Flies; Death of Livestock; Boils; Hail) 
• “I’m sinful” (Exodus 9:27-28) 
• Relief from Hardship (Exodus 9:29) 

The Cycle of Breaking a Hardened Heart: 
• Resist God (Exodus 9:34-35) 
• Hardship in Life (Locusts) 
• “Forgive me” (Exodus 10:16-17) 
• Humble Heart 

7 “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.” —Jeremiah 18:7-10 

TAKEAWAY: PRACTICE having a shapeable heart by walking in HUMILITY.