The Bondage of the Old Nature

Exodus 14:5 KJV

And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?

Jameison Fausett and Brown comments:

 "Alas, how soon the obduracy of this reprobate king reappears! He had been convinced, but not converted - overawed, but not sanctified by the appalling judgments of heaven. He bitterly repented of what he now thought a hasty concession. Pride and revenge, the honor of his kingdom, and the interests of his subjects, all prompted him to recall his permission to reclaim those runaway slaves and force them to their wonted labor. Strange that he should yet allow such considerations to obliterate or outweigh all his painful experience of the danger of oppressing that people. …”

The bondage of sin and the old nature are so powerful that, though a soul may appear to have made a turn around, that old nature quickly "brings them to their senses" where they ask, "What have we done?" As quickly as our hopes were up that they would follow the Lord, they have turned again to the beggarly things of this world.

·       Shallow conversions

·       Hollow confessions

·       Emotional repentance and

·       Hasty cries to God at the urging of a believer

These are not the makings of eternal children of God.

·       Something deeper

·       Something more grounded

·       Something supernatural

These are the things that tend to earnest converts to Christ. It may appear that the soul that is truly converted makes that transformation in a heartbeat but examination will always confirm that years of spiritual process led to that moment of salvation.