He Sinned Yet Again

I was reading from Exodus 9, and this verse popped out

34But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Exodus 9 tells the story of the plagues five, six and seven. Livestock dying, boils, and hail. I read somewhere once that each of the plagues that God sent against the Eygptians dealt with one of the main gods of the Egyptian people.

All those livestock died, all those people suffered, all those people and animals died and still Pharaoh said no to God. It was like all that God did meant nothing, as long as it didn't continue. Pharaoh sinned and hardened his heart. But not just Pharaoh, so did his servants. But I find that in the Old Testament, the direction the leader of the people goes, so often goes the whole nation.

AND YET>>> some of his servants feared the Lord. For when hail was promised

20Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 21but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

So you see how some of the servants decided that bringing in their slaves and livestock would be a good idea? They knew that what Moses said God would bring, God would bring. They feared the Lord.

Kinda like later in the story of Israel, God always preserved a remnant for himself, even when their leaders were evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Kinda like how today, in the midst of churches being changed by the world around us, influenced to become more like the world, there are churches and individual believers who say NO, this is what God's word says, and it alone we will follow. God always preserves a remnant for himself. May he always preserve me.