Exodus 8:10-11:  And Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “As you say! So that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God, the frogs shall leave you and your houses and your officials and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile.”

Devotion:  Would you wait one more night to call the exterminator if your house was full of frogs?  If your son or daughter brought a frog into the house, hidden in his or her shirt or pants pocket, would you invite them in for tea or hurry them outside? My brother tried to sneak a toad into our house, in his Fisher Price school-house, so he could “wash his hair.” My mother gave a firm command, “Outside with that thing!”  Yet, some people treat their sinful behavior like the frogs in Pharaoh’s house. We’ll take care of it tomorrow!

I was visiting a daughter of a church member.  Her mother and sisters were Christians but she remained outside the fellowship of God.  I asked her if she would like to receive God’s forever forgiveness in Jesus.  She replied, “Maybe tomorrow.”  She said she did not want to stop smoking, drinking, or partying with her friends.  “Someday I will join the church,” she stated, “after I’m done being wild.”

The plague of frogs was a warning sign for the Egyptians to heed the Word of the Lord or face dire consequences.  The appearance of massive amounts of frogs was not new to the land near the Nile for the fertile soil along the banks of the river was a natural place for frogs to congregate.  The timing of the plague was the unique work of the Lord.  Moses’ words to the leader of the land were undeniable: “So that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God” (v. 10). The Egyptian pantheon of gods – Atum, Amen-Ra, Ptah and Thoth (the moon god symbolized by the head of the frog-eating bird, the ibis) – was incapable and inferior to the liberating work of the Hebrew God. 

For the first time in the showdown between the King of Egypt and the King of the Universe, Pharaoh condescended to the existence and strength of Israel’s God.  He asked Moses to pray to the God of Israel (v. 8). Moses assured Pharaoh the answer would not be a coincidence by promising to pray at a designated time.  However, when the prayers were not answered as Pharaoh expected, he hardened his heart (v. 15).  Pharaoh was probably hoping the outcome of his actions would vanish instead of being “gathered into heaps” and causing the land to stink (v. 14).  Pharaoh had to learn that there are always consequences for our sinful actions!

Dear friend, do not harden your heart like Pharaoh because your prayers are not answered they way you planned.  Do not stop listening to the Father because the consequences of your sins pile up and cause the land to stink. God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.”[1] When the Spirit of the Lord offers you an opportunity to repent, make the most of Christ’s plea, today!  Do not say, “Tomorrow!” 

Prayer: God our Father, thank you for your forgiving love offered in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Help me to heed the Spirit’s calling to repent of my sins, today. Amen. 

Prayer Exercise:  “Prayer of Examen,” page 181, in Patricia D. Brown, “Paths to Prayer: Finding Your Own Way to the Presence of God,” (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003). ISBN: 0-779-6565-0. Copyright © 2003 by Patricia D. Brown.  All rights reserved.