Tomorrow

DEVOTION

EXODUS

TOMORROW

Ex 8:1-15

8:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.'" 5 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.'" 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. 8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD." 9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile." 10 "Tomorrow," Pharaoh said. Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God. 11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile." 12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. 13 And the LORD did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. 14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

NIV

Once again we see the black arts imitating the hand of God bringing more frogs upon themselves. It is also interesting the Egyptians had a deity with the head of a frog. The Lord could have brought lions or tigers or alligators upon the people, but frogs are so disgusting, especially if they are the small slimy type. Having them everywhere, even in their beds must have been horrible. In fact it was so bad Pharaoh asked Moses to pray to the LORD to remove them. Isn’t that interesting? An unbeliever, in fact, someone who thinks himself to be a god, asked Moses to pray to the LORD for relief of these frogs. Moses wants him to know it is the LORD who will do this so he asks for a specific time the frogs should go away. Certainly there could be a lesson in that fact. When we pray, we usually sort of leave it up to God when he will answer our prayer. Maybe that is a form of disbelief. We pray, but really do not expect to see the answer any time soon. Maybe he only answers in the immediately when we pray for an unbeliever so he can prove to them he is the LORD God. Certainly he did that for this man when he needed the proof. But do we hesitate to trust him to answer when we pray for an unbeliever, but even more when we pray for ourselves, or another believer? But the point in this narrative about the frogs might well be in the heart of Pharaoh. When adversity comes his way, he is willing to have a believer pray to his God for relief and even promises to commit to the LORD to let them leave. But after the relief he relents from his commitment and strengthens his resolve to keep them from leaving. Could that be the way we are at times? When we experience some form of adversity we seek the face of God. We pray with a sense of fervency for relief from our troubles, but then we he does give us that relief and the adversity is over, we then go about living with our own plans once again. We strengthen our resolve about how we have planned things to go, our desires, our goals, our way. All the time the adversity of the frogs was to point or prod the Egyptians toward turning to God, to seeing his power above all things, all other of their gods. Sometimes he may use adversity to prod us to see his power, his sovereignty in our lives. Maybe the reason for those adversities is because we have been living with other gods, gods of our own making. The god of self, the god of wealth, the god of success, the god of lust, the god of pride or whatever other god we have devised to hold in reverence. But if we live completely with all our heart, loving him, trusting him, he should have no need to bring any adversity our way. That is not to say Satan might attempt to bring some difficulties upon us, but God is always there to bring us relief, if we believe, if we ask. Perhaps we should be asking for that relief on a specific day, or hour so that we will know it is his hand at work. Do we dare believe for an answer tomorrow? Do we dare believe for an answer?