A Stubborn ruler 

Exodus 7:1-13 (New International Version)

1Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

6Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.8The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

10So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:12Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Human rebellion and God’s patience

God could have destroyed  pharaoh and  his army with  one stroke. But God gave him a long rope. when he repeatedly hardened his heart, God let it be hardened heavily until he sank deeply into the Red Sea with his army. Moses never agreed to leave behind neither the children nor the cattle. God’s freedom is total. Satan can not have a partial bondage over our household and belongings. Have we the perfect emancipation in christ for which He gave himself totally on the cross ? “that they may have life, and have it abundantly. “ (John 10:10).