One More Night With The Frogs

The nation of Israel was enslaved in Egypt. God had sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to set Israel free and let them leave Egypt. Pharaoh had refused so, God began to send plagues upon the land of Egypt as a means of changing Pharaoh's mind. The second plague was frogs. They were innumerable. Think about the problems the plague of frogs brought to Egypt. The frogs were everywhere! Frogs in the bedroom, frogs in the kitchen, frogs in the parlor, frogs in the oven, frogs in the yard! God had said,

"And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me. But if thou wilt not let them go behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs. And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs: which shall come up, and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and in the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats; And the frogs shall come in to thee and to thy people, and to all thy servants. And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt." (Exodus 8:1-5)

God keeps His word. See the Egyptian woman opening her oven; she screams and out jumps frogs! There's a fellow pulling down the sheets to get into a comfortable bed and frogs all over his bed. Another is putting on his clothes. What's that in his pockets? Frogs! See those Egyptian boys kicking along the roads to school squashing frogs (instead of mud) between their toes. Frogs in the palace! Frogs in the hut of those in poverty! Little frogs! Big frogs! The sound must have been deafening. Frogs in the house, frogs in the yard, thousands of dead frogs heaped up in smelly mountains as millions more came from the rivers to take their place! Finally, Pharaoh could stand it no longer. He called for Moses, the Servant of God.

"But Pharao called Moses and Aaron and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord." (Exodus 8:8)

Now Moses was overjoyed. At last Pharaoh had made up his mind to obey the Lord. So Moses said,

"And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people: and may remain only in the river.?" (Exodus 8:9)

And here is Pharaoh's unbelievable answer. Pharaoh said,

"And he answered: Tomorrow!" (Exodus 8:10)

I have never been able to figure that one out! Frogs in his food, frogs in his bed, frogs in his clothes, frogs everywhere and God was ready to remove the frogs instantly. The decision was up to Pharaoh. And he said, Tomorrow! It was as though he was saying,

"Give me one more night with the frogs."

How could he possibly have chosen one more night with those frogs? It was a strange decision on Pharaoh's part.
However, before we pass judgment on Pharaoh and conclude that he was out of his right mind before we assign him to the psychiatric ward for observation let me ask this question:

What about the frog situation in your own life?

We have them, you know. I’m talking about the 7 chief frogs that are sources of sin, that is capital sins. sins that, according to the Baltimore Catechism, "rule over our other sins and are the causes of them."

• Pride

• Covetousness

• Lust

• Anger

• Gluttony

• Envy

• Sloth.

I call them frogs! All of them! Frogs that cause difficulty and grief on every hand. They plague us morning, noon and night. They are a constant source of harassment and sorrow. They weigh us down hour by hour and day by day.

Moses was sent by God to deal with the frog problem in Egypt. Jesus was sent by God the Father to deal with the frog situation in our lives. God was standing by. He was ready to remove the frogs that troubled the Egyptians; whenever, they were willing to ask. Likewise, the Lord is standing by ready and willing to help us deal with the troublesome frogs of our life whenever we are willing to ask Him to intervene.

When Pharaoh was asked when, he replied, "Tomorrow is soon enough."

Essentially, he was saying, "Give me one more night with the frogs."

God is asking us this same question. When do you want me to take care of your frogs?

Don’t spend one more night with the frogs.

Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (II Corinthians 6:2b)