I grew up attending church, so the major themes and familiar stories of the Bible are part of my spiritual DNA. One of those stories is unpacked in the Old Testament book of Exodus, which tells of God’s call upon a wanted man named Moses who was tasked with the responsibility of confronting the Egyptian Pharaoh with the command, “Let my people go!”
Pharaoh, of course, was not inclined to give up his labor force, and told Moses that he wasn’t impressed with his “trick” of turning his staff into a serpent. As the story goes, God unleashed a series of ten plagues on Pharaoh and the land of Egypt, each of which addressed a particular object of Egyptian worship.
Having set that stage, I wanted to share a particular insight that I’ve recently contemplated. In plague number one, the water of the Nile is turned to blood. Pharaoh remained hard hearted. In Exodus chapter 8 we see the second plague, which was frogs coming from the Nile to invade every space of their homes.
Pharaoh called for Moses and asked for relief. This makes complete sense for at least three reasons. One, the word plague means, in part, “any widespread affliction or calamity.” Obviously these plagues created a tremendous amount of chaos and discomfort. Two, assuming these frogs were of the African frog variety, there was a great deal of danger. Our American bullfrogs are basically harmless. You may not want one for a pet, but neither would you consider them a threat. African frogs are carnivorous, have teeth, and will bite when threatened. That adds a bit of interest, right? Finally, we’re no different from Pharaoh in our desire for immediate relief anytime we’re even remotely uncomfortable. I keep Tums and Advil in the console of my truck for this very reason.
But when we read the story, we see that Pharaoh did something very interesting. Having been summoned to the palace, Moses asked Pharaoh, “When do you want the frogs to go? You set the time!” And to the disbelief of the reader, Pharaoh replies, “Do it tomorrow.” Tomorrow? Seriously?
I realize that scholars who have written big, fat commentaries on Exodus have plausible rationales for what is taking place here. But using the hermeneutic of the common reader, his response makes no sense whatsoever. We all have experienced suffering, and we’re pretty quick to dial up the prayers for its immediate relief. So why does Pharaoh say tomorrow?
Now that I think about it, why do we say tomorrow? We all have our “frogs.” You know what I mean. We have our habits, addictions, attitudes, and behaviors that are problematic. Like the Egyptians, we have frogs in our bedrooms, frogs in our kitchens, frogs in our living rooms, our garages, in the yard, at our employment–they can be anywhere.
We know those frogs are a problem. And if we’re honest, we know those frogs adversely and negatively affect others. After all, none of us live in a vacuum. To make matters worse, deep down we really want to change. We want to stop. We want to quit. We want to be free and clear of the frogs.
So why don’t we deal with the frogs? Because there’s always tomorrow. Tomorrow gives us the opportunity to hang on to the frogs just one more day. Or one more time. But with delayed action comes increasing stubbornness. Or to use Exodus’ word, hard heartedness.
2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “Now is the time of God’s favor. Today is the day of salvation!” Whatever frogs are in your life, now is the time to begin to deal with them. God’s grace is available today. Right now. Its your move.
