One more night with the frogs

One of the more interesting responses in all of holy writ in my estimation, is found in Exodus 8:10. It is an often overlooked one, yet a very powerful one that has much application to man today. The setting entails God sending a series of ten plagues upon the land of Egypt because Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. The Hebrew children had been under Egyptian bondage for hundreds of years. They had cried out for God's help and He was ready to deliver them from this horrible bondage. So God called Moses through a burning bush and informed him that he would be the one, along with his brother Aaron to lead this eventual nation of people out of Egypt. Moses then preceded, through God’s guidance, to warn Pharaoh that if he did not let the people go so they could serve God, God would continue to send plagues. The first half of Exodus 8 consists of the second of these ten plagues. Moses warned Pharaoh that if he did not let God’s people go so they can serve Him (v.1), then a plague of frogs would come into the land of Egypt in such an abundance that they would cover the land border to border (vv.2-4). When Pharaoh refused, the plague took place. Frogs came in and covered the entire land of Egypt (v.6). In obvious disgust, Pharaoh was now willing (or so he said) to let the people go if God would remove this plague (v.8).

What takes place next is not often discussed when talking about this incident of Pharaoh and the plagues. But I find it rather appealing. In fact, one of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard preached was by a dear friend of mine on this very subject many years ago. It has had an everlasting impression on me. In v.9 Moses told Pharaoh that he would intreat the Lord, that He may remove this plague of frogs. But he needed to know when. In other words, “Pharaoh when are you willing to do what God has commanded, so that He will remove this plague?” And v.10 gives us one of the saddest responses one could ever make regarding the question “when?” Pharaoh’s response was “tomorrow.” Pharaoh shows an obvious lack of priority and urgency in submitting to God's will. He had an opportunity to do what God wanted, and have a horrible plague removed from his life. Yet he chose to spend one more night with the frogs.

I often wonder how many of us like Pharaoh, willingly choose to spend "one more night with the frogs?" Here we are in the 21st century, some 2000 years from the time Christ ascended to Heaven. We are well aware that sin plagues the lives of all men (Romans 3:23). And until one submits to God's will, one much higher than our own, and puts that old man of sin to death (Romans 6:3-4), sin will continue to plague the life of mankind. In essence, God has left man a choice as Moses did Pharaoh by asking when. When will you do God’s will so that the plague of sin will be removed from your life? And when man responds by saying “tomorrow” or at another time that is more convenient, as did Felix (Acts 24:25) or a mere “almost” as did Agrippa (Acts 26:28) he/she is no less guilty than the Pharaoh of Exodus.

But I think there is something here to be learned by all of us. None of us are perfect. Even one who has been a part of God's family for years has something to learn. We all have our struggles. How often, when considering daily Bible study, have we said “I will start doing that later when I have more time?” How often, when pondering the value of assembling with brothers and sisters and getting involved with the work of the church, do we reason to ourselves, “I will do that more regularly when it is more convenient?” or “when I grow up and have kids of my own, I will be more responsible?” (This was a big one for me in my younger years as a teenager). How many times when evangelism is brought up, have we thought, “when I get back from vacation I will start?” or “I will be more consistent with these things once I retire.” How often, when thinking about visiting the sick, encouraging the lost, comforting those in the hospitals have we figured, “tomorrow?” What are we waiting on? Do we realize that when we do this, in a lot of ways, we are choosing to spend one more night with the frogs?

Let us move forward with urgency to serve in God's kingdom, with commitment and eagerness. Also, I wonder if one thing that hinders us greatly might be our lack of commitment to one another? For example, if we spent half the time we do bickering and arguing with each other, and instead put that time toward trying to reach out to those who really need the gospel, how much more successful could we be? Sometimes it seems that we are too busy tearing each other down, rather than seeking to build up. It is hard to look out on the fields that are ready for harvest when our eyes are glued to each other.

Each and every day of our lives we have a choice. We can choose to play or labor. We can choose to absorb all of our time in material things or balance it out so we can involve ourselves in spiritual matters as well. And we can choose to put focus on what Jesus told us (Matthew 6:33) or we can put our focus on what He said not to do (John 5:39-40). It must start now! James reminds us that we are not guaranteed to be here “tomorrow” (James 4:13-14). Individually, we must all answer by our choices in life. Which do we choose? Is it fulfilling our responsibility as citizens of God's kingdom today, or do we want to spend one more night with frogs?