One More Night with the Frogs

And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.” So he said, “Tomorrow.” (Exodus 8:9-10)

During the second plague, Egypt was crawling (leaping?) with frogs. They invaded the homes, bedrooms, and kitchens. There were frogs jumping into the ovens and out of the kneading bowls! Pharaoh even had to share his bed with the uninvited amphibian guests. Eventually he couldn’t stand it any longer, and called for Moses and Aaron to entreat the Lord to take them away. When Moses gave him the choice of when he should intercede for the plague to end, Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” What…TOMORROW!?!? If he could set the time, why not right away? With the land in social and economic crisis, Pharaoh chose to spend one more night with the frogs. The situation was unbearable. Why didn’t he ask for Moses to intercede right then and there? Why wait for tomorrow? Had he become used to the frogs? Had he grown fond of the taste of frog legs? Of course not, but in all likelihood he wanted one more day to solve his frog problem on his own without acknowledging his need for God’s help. 

There’s something more that we can learn from this story: frogs don’t belong in our houses! Do we have things in our lives that don’t belong there; things we have grown to tolerate and don’t want to deal with? Maybe our frogs are toxic relationships, unclean thoughts, hidden sins, unhealthy habits, selfish behavior or bitterness in our hearts. We shouldn’t put up with these frogs one more night! No more ignoring, no more adapting to the frog life, no more delaying the clean-up. If we acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for God’s immediate deliverance, we don’t have to spend another night with the frogs. So often we put off until tomorrow what we should deal with today. Tomorrow never comes. #changestartstoday #doitnow