In line with the original request for Scripture:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
Matthew 23:37
Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day."
John 12:47-48
It should also be kept in mind that the Pharaoh who was confronted by Moses hardened his own heart a number of times before the Lord finished the job, as He said He would.
The idea of being 'free to choose' what it is in your nature to do is nothing more than saying a bird is free to follow its instincts. That is an oxymoron. Freedom to choose means two or more AVAILABLE options. Giving a donkey the freedom to choose between alfalfa hay and a raw steak is no choice. If a man has a choice, then there are two or more things he may actually and effectively choose from.
It is not choice to follow one's nature or instincts. However it is choice if one is given the option to at least wish against one's own nature, even if one is unable to do anything about it. This is the anti-Calvinist position I take. We are free to wish to be different even as horrid and unredeemed sinners. In fact, I see the unredeemed acting on this wish every day of the year. It's just that they are unable to do anything about it -- that is something only Christ can do for them if they are willing to humble themselves and submit to Him.
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?'"
Please note that here, in Exodus 10:3, it seems apparent that this is something Pharaoh could actually do if he wanted to!
There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselvbes before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
Ezra 8:21
You save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
Psalm 18:27
[the Lord is speaking] This is the one I esteem:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word.
But whoever sacrifices a bull
is like one who kills a man,
and whoever offers a lamb,
like one who breaks a dog's neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
is like one who presents pig's blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense,
like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
and their souls delight in their abominations;
so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and will bring upon them what they dread.
for when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me.
Isaiah 66:2-4
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands.
Seek righeousness, seek humility;
perhpas you will be sheltered
on the day of the Lord's anger.
Zephaniah 2:3
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James 4:10
It does appear as though there is an actual choice to humble oneself or to remain proud.
This is rather an important choice, as the Lord favors the humble.
