The ACT of Repentance

Exodus 9: 27 – 34, the time when Pharaoh admits his sin to Moses and Aaron, is quite familiar to us. However, we are going to have it told in a way that will certainly set us thinking and turning.

Two powers are battling here, regarding the children of Israel. We are looking at an earthly power, against the One, Heavenly Power. There is no competition really, for God is the ultimate Power. Pharaoh, on the other hand, sees himself as all powerful, the power of Egypt, controlling everything and everyone. God is speaking through His servants, Moses and Aaron, asking Pharaoh to release His people. But Pharaoh’s heart is hardened by God Himself, for God’s purpose in and through Pharaoh will be done.

Here is the scene. In the midst of a most debilitating, destructive and life taking plague of hail, the stubborn, hard hearted Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron. Bear this in mind, for it is in the midst of falling hail that Moses and Aaron travel to the palace of Pharaoh, at his request. Why has the hard-hearted one sent for these servants of God? He wants to repent. Listen to him carefully in the Exodus passage. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. This time I have sinned, he said to them. The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.

He is Acknowledging his sin. This time I have sinned. Pharaoh is acknowledging that this time he has really sinned against the God of the Israelites. All the other times, he did not see himself as a sinner, but living with continuous hail, having this frightening weather destroying everything, was too much for Pharaoh. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt, since it became a nation. The unrelenting hand against Pharaoh and all Egypt, was too powerful for even the best of his magicians. Pharaoh had no choice but to send for these servants of Almighty God.

He is acknowledging his sin.

He is Confessing his wrong. The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Note how, before Moses and Aaron, with the intensified and continuous hail and thunder storms, this hardened hearted, takes responsibility, as he says that he and those he leads, are in the wrong. Pharaoh is between a rock and a hard place, and he quickly calls these men, for he only wants release from the destroying Hand of God, upon them.

He is confessing his wrongs.

He is Turning from his ways. Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go: you don’t have to stay any longer. Pharaoh is asking for prayers, to stop this onslaught upon Egypt, and he promises to turn around. He will let the children of God go. He will not stop them any longer. His whole desire to keep them has been turned around and he will let them go.

He is turning from his ways.

Look carefully at what you are seeing. It is an ACT of repentance, coming from one who carries a hardened heart, a totally diseased heart, in the spirit. In the midst of suffering at the Hand of Almighty God, when there is no one else to turn to, this heart turns to God, with the perfect ACT of Repentance.

Acknowledging for the first time, as never done before that one has really sinned.
Confessing openly that God the Lord, is right in His works and ways and that any other is wrong.
Turning from one’s present position and promising to do what the Lord desires of you.

This is the ACT of Repentance. However, on its own, it’s fake, a word for a time, just to get some relief and freedom from the unrelenting Hand of God against one. Does God release His Hand? Yes He does, and the truth of a hardened heart is immediately seen. As soon as the hail stopped, Pharaoh sinned again. Was Moses fooled? No! Moses knows the ways of the hard hearted. Listen to Moses tell Pharaoh, openly and plainly, after his ACT of Repentance, that he will pray to God and the hailstones will cease, all the thunder will stop, so that Pharaoh will, know that the earth is the LORD’S. Then Moses says to Pharaoh, But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD. Exodus 9: 30.

Here is the truth, the frightening truth. An ACT of Repentance can be made to God, through fear, weakness, or acknowledging that one cannot stop what is happening. It can be made just to get some unrelenting plague in one’s life, to stop. As long as there is no fear of God; as long as God remains someone not respected, or obeyed; as long as idols stay in place; the heart will remain far from God. Do not be fooled! The repenting of a person feeling the squeeze of the Hand of God on their lives, is not necessarily from a bleeding, surrendered heart. Yes, the mind thinks quickly and will do all that is needed to have a change in life, but the heart remains hard. There is no fear of God, so as soon as the prayer request is answered, the old ways take up residence again. The ACT of repentance can come from any heart, hardened or surrendered.