Whether or not one believes in God, the question of human free-will is difficult.
Christians struggle to understand the relationship between human free-will and the sovereignty of God. Some theologians reject belief in one or the other. Some atheists believe that behavior is predetermined by a person's DNA and environment.
The view can then be taken that the sovereignty of God is the very thing that makes human free-will possible. Without God we would be slaves to our genetic makeup and the events and experiences that happen to (influence) us. By the sovereign grace of God we are able to make a choice between good and evil; between Christ and Baal. In Christ is spiritual life. In Baal is death (John 10:10).
And God in His sovereignty and infinite wisdom, has arranged our times and places in life so as to create the circumstances under which each individual is most likely to seek and find Him (Acts 17:26-31).
But those who do not consider it worth while to keep God in there thoughts, He lets them go as they wish - into the bondage of sin (Romans 1:28).
Romans 1:28 brings to my mind the story of Moses and Pharaoh. In Exodus we read that God "hardened Pharaoh's heart". This seems to make the question of human free-will very difficult.
I have found that certain algebraic concepts are helpful to my understanding of philosophical/theological questions like this one. In algebra we often add negatives and subtract positives, or add by subtracting a negative and so forth.
It can be understood from the verse that God takes positive action against the one who does not remember Him, shackling them in bondage to sin; or it can be understood that He, as I word it above, lets them go as they wish.
So when the text says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, I see it not as an aggressive (positive) action on the part of God, but rather as a passive (negative) action whereby God does not forcibly soften Pharaoh's heart because Pharaoh does not love God or His people.
