I think the Bible passages on God hardening hearts have always troubled a lot of people. We read about Pharaoh and how God would continually harden his heart. I would read that and think, Why would God do that? If He could soften a heart, why harden one instead?
RC Sproul addressed this exact concern in an elegant, Biblical way, that made me love the Lord even more in his book, Chosen by God:
"All that God has to do to harden people's hearts is to remove the restraints. He gives them a longer leash. Rather than restricting their human freedom, he increases it. He lets them have their own way. In a sense he gives them enough rope to hang themselves. It is not that God puts his hand on them to create fresh evil in their hearts; he merely removes his holy hand of restraint from them and lets them do their own will"
Because not one of us does good, all of our hearts are naturally hardened against the Lord. We are all at enmity with the cross of Christ. All God has to do to keep us from him is to not intervene. If God lets us go, we will never come to him. If God did not wake me up to me need for him, I would have self-destructed.
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