Exodus 10:1-20 "How Long will You refuse to humble yourself." (Part One) with Pastor Michael Petit

Sep 17, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Storms Reveal Your Rowing Hands

The disciples strained against oars while Jesus walked on chaotic waves. Humility begins when we stop trying to control storms and fix our eyes on the One who commands them. Like fishermen trusting their strength, we often exhaust ourselves before surrendering to Christ’s authority. Pride insists “I’ve got this”; humility whispers “I need You.” Storms become classrooms where we trade self-reliance for childlike dependence. [08:27]

“He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8, ESV)

Reflection: What storm are you trying to row through alone? How might fixing your gaze on Christ’s authority shift your posture from striving to trusting?

Day 2: The Phone That Locks and the Heart That Hides

An app locks phones to block temptation, but pride finds workarounds. True humility confesses sin instead of masking it. Like David’s raw prayer, freedom comes when we stop hiding and say, “I recognize my rebellion.” God isn’t fooled by our filters—He sees the chaos behind curated images. Humility dismantles facades so grace can rebuild. [12:55]

“I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned.” (Psalm 51:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you managing sin instead of confessing it? What mask might God be asking you to remove today?

Day 3: Grandkid Photos and the Measurement of Meekness

Competing over cuter grandkids exposes our hunger for validation. Humility measures worth not by comparisons but by Christ’s cross. Paul warns against inflated self-assessments—the same pride that made Satan fall. True meekness celebrates others without tallying points. It asks, “Does this post seek applause or reflect gratitude?” [09:57]

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” (Romans 12:3, ESV)

Reflection: When have you subtly competed for validation? How might celebrating others’ joys deepen your contentment?

Day 4: Locusts Over the Land and Stubbornness in the Heart

Pharaoh’s fields vanished under locusts, yet he clung to control. Stubbornness costs more than humility ever will. Every “my way or the highway” stance invites destruction; every surrender to God’s timing brings liberation. Plagues reveal what idols we’ll protect—even as they devour us. [19:06]

“They covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened. They devoured all the vegetation.” (Exodus 10:15, ESV)

Reflection: What area feels “devoured” by your stubbornness? What might liberation look like if you released control?

Day 5: The Sniper Truth of a Forty-Year Spouse

A wife’s blunt correction stings but sanctifies. Humility invites trusted voices to name our blind spots. Like Paul’s warning to self-assess, marriage mirrors how Christ refines His bride. Resistance to feedback reveals pride; receiving it shapes Christlike meekness. [17:10]

“Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation.” (James 1:9-10, ESV)

Reflection: Who has permission to speak hard truths to you? How might their insights reveal God’s kindness?

Sermon Summary

The Lord’s question to Pharaoh cuts straight to the heart: “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” Pharaoh’s hard heart is not just stubbornness. It is rebellion, a heaviness of heart that refuses to let God be God. Pride gets in the way of praise, because self wants to stay in control, be right, and have it its own way.

Humility changes how trouble gets handled. The contrast between grumbling and praise shows up in everyday frustrations, pain, marriage, family, finances, and hard seasons. A heart check asks whether some area has become “my way or the highway,” where God is not being allowed to move. Abba Father calls His people to surrender, not to dig in deeper.

Zephaniah shows that the lowly and humble trust in the name of the Lord, while God removes the arrogant. Pride was Satan’s sin, even though he had been a worship leader. Pride still chooses the devil’s side when it seeks attention, demands to be seen, or wants to be worshiped. Humility belongs to Christ.

Paul’s warning in Romans 12 calls for an honest evaluation of the heart. Christ is the measure, and nobody meets that measure apart from grace. The Word of God, the perfect law of liberty, exposes the places that need work. The storms of life also expose self-reliance, because Christ walking on the water tells struggling disciples, “Look at me,” rather than at the waves.

Childlike humility trusts the Lord. Philippians calls believers away from selfish ambition and trying to impress people, toward considering others above self. David’s confession in Psalm 51 shows that humble hearts can say, “I am in sin,” while pride always finds a way to keep sin hidden and keep doing it. Accountability requires humility too, because correction only helps when it is received rather than attacked.

Christ gives the clearest picture of humility. Though He was God, He emptied Himself, took the form of a servant, and became obedient to death on a cross. A bondservant of Christ does not dictate terms to God. God gets the glory, while His people are simply blessed to be part of what He is doing.

The locust plague shows the serious cost of Pharaoh’s refusal. God warns him plainly that Egypt’s remaining food, crops, trees, homes, and land will be overwhelmed. God also confronts Egypt’s false gods of crops, fertility, storms, harvest, and nourishment. Pharaoh’s servants can see that Egypt is ruined, yet they still blame Moses instead of recognizing the God whom Pharaoh refuses to humble himself before.

Key Takeaways

1. Pride gets in the way of praise Pride makes hardship feel like a personal offense instead of an opportunity to trust God. Gratitude does not deny pain, confusion, or frustration, but it refuses to let those things become the loudest truth. Praise starts changing the heart when it names God’s provision right in the middle of the problem. [02:41]
2. Honest heart checks require humility Paul’s warning does not allow self-flattery or a carefully managed image. Christ is the standard, and His holiness reveals the places where anger, control, envy, or self-reliance have taken root. A heart becomes teachable when it stops defending itself before God. [06:50]
3. Confession breaks pride’s grip Pride hides sin, makes excuses for it, and keeps finding ways around every safeguard. Humility tells the truth about the actual struggle and brings it into God’s light. Confession is not weakness, because it is the doorway through which grace begins to deal with what self cannot conquer. [12:55]
4. Christ defines true humility Christ did not grasp for recognition, rights, or status, though He was in the form of God. Christ emptied Himself and obeyed the Father all the way to the cross. A life shaped by Christ cannot keep demanding control from the One it claims to serve. [15:03]
5. God confronts every false refuge The locusts did not merely destroy crops; they exposed the emptiness of Egypt’s gods. False refuges always promise nourishment, security, and control, but they cannot stand when God acts. Pharaoh’s ruin came through refusing the one command that would have led to life and freedom.

## [20:45]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:39] - Pharaoh’s Refusal to Humble Himself
[01:14] - Pride, Praise, and a Heart Check
[03:25] - Where Is the Heart Dug In?
[04:26] - The Lowly and Humble Trust God
[06:06] - An Honest Evaluation of Self
[08:05] - Christ in the Middle of the Storm
[10:44] - Childlike Faith and True Humility
[11:36] - Confession Versus Hidden Sin
[15:03] - Christ Took the Form of a Servant
[17:32] - Humility Within the Body of Christ
[18:04] - The Warning of the Locust Plague
[20:45] - God Judges Egypt’s False Gods
[21:29] - Egypt Is Ruined

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Exodus 10:3-4
“So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country,”’” [00:57]

Philippians 2:5-8
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” [15:03]

Romans 12:3
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” [06:50]

Psalm 51:3-4
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” [11:36]

Observation questions

What specific question did the Lord ask Pharaoh, and what command did Pharaoh continue to refuse? [00:57]
According to Exodus 10, what would the locusts destroy, and how serious would the loss be for Egypt? [17:52]
What words and actions in Philippians 2 show the depth of Christ’s humility?
In Romans 12:3, what does Paul warn believers not to do, and what does he tell them to do instead? [06:06]

Interpretation questions

Why is Pharaoh’s refusal to humble himself more than simple stubbornness? What does it reveal about a person’s relationship to God? [01:06]
How does comparing oneself to Christ, rather than to other people, lead to the “sober judgment” Paul describes in Romans 12:3? [07:25]
Why does David’s willingness to plainly admit, “I have sinned,” show humility? Why does pride make that kind of confession difficult? [12:03]
What does Christ’s choice to take the form of a servant teach about how believers should think about recognition, rights, and control? [15:20]

Application questions

Where has frustration recently made it easiest to grumble—at home, at work, with health, finances, family, or another pressure? What would it look like to name a reason to praise God in the middle of that situation? [02:36]
Is there an area where the heart has become “my way or the highway”? What might surrender to the Father look like in that specific area this week? [03:45]
Romans 12 calls for an honest evaluation of self. What is one attitude, pattern, or reaction—such as anger, control, envy, or self-reliance—that God may be bringing into the light? [07:47]
When correction comes from a spouse, friend, family member, or trusted believer, what is the usual first response: listening, explaining, defending, or attacking? What would receiving correction humbly look like? [16:16]
Is there a sin, struggle, or temptation that has been hidden, minimized, or explained away? What trusted person could help bring that struggle into the light with truth, prayer, and accountability? [12:46]
Where is there a desire to be noticed, praised, seen as right, or given credit? How can Christ’s example of humble service reshape that desire? [14:11]
What false refuge is most tempting when life feels uncertain—money, comfort, health, control, success, people’s approval, or something else? How can trust be placed more fully in the Lord instead? [20:45]

Sermon Clips

36s

#FocusOnJesus

“Why does Jesus show up walking on the water in the middle of the storm? Because he's like, look at me and focus on me, and stop focusing on your your surroundings. Humble yourself. Seek me. They're rowing and rowing and rowing and rowing, and they're all fishermen. And we can do this. We got this. We're gonna get there. And they're in a storm, and then they see the ghost coming, and it's Jesus walking on water. It's to remind you that you can't do it by yourself. You need him.”

51s

#HumbleAndConfess

“And I was like, wow. So I was like, okay. So at the end of the day, can you be humble enough to confess that you're having a sin problem with that and trust that God can help you overcome it? Right? You can set all the guidelines and parameters and things, but you know what's gonna happen to that person who has no control of their sin? They're gonna find a way to buy another phone. What happened to your phone? Lost it in the drawer forever. Right? And and so that those things happen, but if we're gonna be if we're gonna stay in our pride, we'll figure out a way to continue to keep doing sin. And so we need to be humble and confess our sins.”

51s

#PursueMeekness

“Can you imagine, like, if if the Lord said tomorrow, okay, everybody who's not who's not meek and humble, out of here. There won't be nobody here. That's just even in the church. Right? We we have to pursue meekness. We have to pursue, to be humble. You know, we're we're called to pursue righteousness and holiness, but do we pursue meekness and to be humble? What was Satan's sin? Pride. It's pride. And and yet he was the worship leader. He wanted to be worshiped. And and so we have to be very careful because when you're choosing pride, you're choosing the side of the devil.”

31s

#CheckYourHeart

“So often, that's what we do. And so we need to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves. That means we should check our heart. What do we check our heart to? The perfect law of liberty. You look at the word of God. You look like am I applying these things from God's word? You look to Christ. Like Ira said, you look to Christ. Those are so many things that are important. But humility means not thinking too highly of yourselves.”

36s

#HumbleBeforeGod

“Is there any area in your heart tonight where you just refuse to humble yourself before God? Could be your finances, could be your, your marriage, could be your your your kids, your grandkids. It could be school or something going on, and you just are dug in, and it's gonna it's your way or the highway. And you're not allowing god to to to move in that. And and, you know, you're you're you're prideful.”

34s

#BondservantToChrist

“Slaves. What rights do slaves have? You're a slave to to Christ. That's what you're called to be. And so you're a servant of Christ, and so you're a bondservant is what it says specifically. And some of us don't we don't act like we're slaves for Christ. We we try to dictate and tell God what we're gonna do, and that's that's not what a a bondservant does. In those days, a bondservant didn't do that.”

47s

#GiveGodTheGlory

“You don't need to speak out. How's the church doing? The lights are on. You don't need to oh, we had fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, a 100 people. Like, you do all that stuff. You don't they don't need to know all that. God's doing what God needs to do, and we're just blessed to be able to be there. Right? But what do we do? you should've seen it. Like, we go into this whole thing, and and it's like, don't do that. Be be humble. Right? God is moving. God's doing the work. We're getting to be a part of it. He gets the glory. Praise god. Right?”

26s

#KeepYourHeartSoft

“And so we spoke about the hardening of the heart, and we talked about it being a heart matter. It's the heaviness of the heart where you're in rebellion to God. And and so the the opposite of being humble is pride. And and so, and that's why we were saying when you're having trouble praising God, there may be pride self that's in the way of that.”

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