While reading to my wife from the Old Testament, we read of the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the army of Pharaoh (Exodus 14 and 15). The Lord gave a promise to the Children of Israel that if they would diligently hearken to His voice and do that which was right in His sight and keep the commandments and statutes, He would keep from them the diseases from which the Egyptians were afflicted.
I wondered: What are the diseases of the Egyptians? During the time Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and demanded that he be obedient to the Lord and let the Children of Israel go, many plagues came upon the Egyptians because the Pharaoh was so stubborn and so full of pride. He considered himself a god and when first confronted by Moses said: Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go (Exodus 5:3).
In order to obtain compliance to the will of God, plagues of water to blood, lice, boils, frogs, locusts and others were sent to persuade Pharaoh to obey. In each case, the scriptures say: But when the Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said (Exodus 8:15).
Hardening of the heart became a habit of the Pharaoh after each of the plagues had ended. After the final plague of the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, the Pharaoh finally relented and let Israel go, then he changed his mind again. He hardened his heart, and went after the Israelites with 600 chariots and their captains. Pharaoh witnessed the destruction of his entire army when they were drowned in the Red Sea.
All of the problems that came upon Egypt could have been averted had it not been for one thing: That dreaded Egyptian disease – The hardening of the heart! It is the most dreaded of all the Egyptian diseases. It has dire consequences and should be feared by all. It is still very much rampant in our day. I asked my wife what she thought caused this disease. She said: “attitude.” I agreed, then thought of some other causes: selfishness and greed came to mind. Then I thought of what President Ezra Taft Benson labeled as the “Universal sin”– Pride. Here are a few excerpts taken from that classic speech: “Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of ‘my will and not thine be done.’ “Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s (Ensign Magazine, May 1989).”
President Benson also gave us the antidote for this dreadful disease of pride and the hardening of our heart. He said, “The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness to God. We must yield “to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and put off the “natural man (Mosiah 3:19).”
The Savior set a perfect example to each of us. How many times did he say and then do: “Thy will be done?” Let us be humble and follow the Savior’s example, thus protecting ourselves from the most dreaded of spiritual diseases: The hardening of our hearts.