November 15, 2006

• Exodus 8

  I am taking a Beth Moore Bible study called Living Beyond Yourself, and in the process of the study we were discussing faithfulness. Beth pointed out that God is faithful and we can trust Him. She mentioned that at times we have difficult circumstances that God delivers us from, or gives us the option to go around, over, or under them. But there are those times when it is difficult and we have to go THROUGH them. In Exodus, Moses and the Israelites are going to have to go through their circumstances, many of which are uncomfortable. Besides showing His glory to the Egyptians, God is also helping the Israelites to develop their faith and trust in Him, and also to develop spiritual muscles. Sometimes the tough circumstances are where we do our most spiritual growth.

  I feel like I am sharing a cliffhanger movie with you, and Exodus is a wonderful cliffhanger. The people’s lives have been tough during their 400 years of slavery, and Pharaoh has just made their lives more difficult as they have to keep up the brick quota but also scramble for hay to make bricks. Pharaoh has been shown two signs that God gave Moses and Aaron to show him – the rod turned to a serpent, and the first plague, water turned to blood. Instead of realizing that these requests from God needed to be honored, Pharaoh chose to harden his heart. Pharaoh did not see why he should honor the God of the Hebrews, and feels that he is on par with God. The next plague has some surprising results. Remember, many of these plagues are also seen in Revelation. But for now, we will find things hoppin’ in Pharaoh’s kingdom.

  When God made the plagues He also was showing that He was more powerful than the Egyptians’ animal idols. The first animal idol that God tackled was the frog. In Egypt, the frog goddess was called “heqet” and she was shown as a frog-headed woman or as a frog. Because the Egyptians saw that many frogs appeared in the Nile, they associated the frog with fertility, so this goddess was the goddess of childbirth. There were four other male gods that were frog gods: “nun” (water), “amen” (invisibility), “heh” (infinity) and “kek” (darkness). As a god, Pharaoh should have been able to command these gods to obey, but we will see that in the face of Almighty God, Pharaoh and his magicians were impotent.

  Exodus 8:1-4 And the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Let My people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold I will smite all your territory with frogs. So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.’”

  The Egyptians worshipped nature, and God is using nature to show that Pharaoh is not God! The frogs would be in every aspect of their lives, and even the Pharaoh would not be immune to the plague. This is one plague where not only the Egyptians but also the Israelites would suffer through. Later on, God will put plagues on the Egyptians that do not touch the Israelites, but in this case that was not so. Sometimes liberty comes at a price of some discomfort. But Pharaoh and the Egyptians exemplify Romans 1:20-23 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four footed animals and creeping things.

  Frogs, in Egypt, helped to control bugs and the Egyptians ate frogs as a delicacy. What was once a pleasure now became a plague to the Egyptians. It is very much the way sin works in our lives. A little sin seems momentarily pleasurable, but over time it becomes a plague, invading our lives in ways that are unimaginable. No temptation from satan starts out with: if you do this you will find that you will be inundated with troubles. Sin starts out with a sweet temptation, a little thing, that grows exponentially, leading one step after another away from God’s best for us.

  How easy it is to make an idol of things. And today, we are doing just that, especially in the new age movement. New agers make gods of themselves, deciding what they will believe, what they feel is true and good. They believe they are the masters of their own destiny, or so they think (but not one of them has created life out of nothing, not one of them has spent even one day totally controlling all their automatic bodily functions, they are deceiving themselves about being gods.)We are so focused on animal rights, but neglect the human rights of a fetus. We use euphemisms like “woman’s right to choose,” instead of murder of an unborn baby. I am still heartsick over the abortion that I had before I got saved. I think if God gave me one chance at a do-over in my life, that momentary choice would be the one I would change. I had all the “right” reasons for taking that action, my primary one being I was still emotionally unstable because of my past and did not want to perpetuate my past onto a child. But it meant putting myself in the position of a god to decide life and death.

  Today we have the American Idol tv show, we have made idols of rock stars, actors, and political figures. We have made idols of our own version of God, picking and choosing what we will act on from the Bible, doing supermarket religion by taking the “best” of all the religions, shaking it up, and forming something that makes sense in our own imaginations. Our imaginations are so limited and filled with error that once we take that step we tread on dangerous ground. We can make an idol of our own religious musings or doctrines and be totally in error. So in error that we are blinded by the error and keep walking, not realizing the pit we will fall into.

  Exodus 8:5-7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’” So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

  Well, our magicians are at it again! They are able to replicate the creation of the plague of frogs, creating their own frogs. I want to remind you that that is just like satan – when he comes into a situation in imitation, he does not make the situation better, but worse. Now, if they were really powerful, the magicians would have gotten RID of the frogs, not created more. Imagine laying down and squishing frogs, kneading bread with frogs in it, frogs everywhere. Satan only made matters worse, but wait until you hear Pharaoh’s response!

  Exodus 8:8 Then Pharaoh called to Moses and Aaron and said, “Entreat the LORD that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.

  Pharaoh is lying through his teeth. Thank God we serve a God who does not lie, and holds His word above Himself.

  Exodus 8:9 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.”

  Ok, Moses asks Pharaoh WHEN should he intercede for the Egyptians. If you were crawling all over with frogs, finding them in your water pots, your bedding, your clothes, your bread, when would you ask Moses to ask God to remove them? I don’t know about you, but immediately wouldn’t be soon enough. Let’s see what our compassionate Pharaoh suggests for the timetable of frog removal.

  Exodus 8:10-11 So, he (Pharaoh) said, “Tomorrow.” And he (Moses) said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. And the frogs shall depart from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.”

  TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! Let’s live with the plague just a little while longer. Isn’t that just like us, aren’t there things in our lives that are out of kilter, out of control, and we want to change those things, but not just now? We are comfortable with the situation, and change involves giving up things that we might like, so we put it off until tomorrow. That is one of satan’s best techniques, that of delay – making us think we have all the time in the world, that it isn’t important to make that decision to accept Christ now, that decision to give up that sinful behavior, that decision to give up that self-destructive behavior or habit. We have all the time in the world. It is true, we have all the time in the world, but the world’s time is short, and eternity is forever. Some decisions should not be put off until tomorrow. And what kind of compassion does this show pharaoh has for his people, pretty little.

  Exodus 8:12-14 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried out to the LORD concerning the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. So the LORD did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields.  They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.

  Sin stinks. Tons of dead and rotting frogs. When we sin, there is death, and the repercussions of sin often hangs around us with a terrible spiritual stench. We end up reaping what we have sown. (That is why we need to pray to God for crop failures when we come to our senses and repent.)  It takes God to come in and help us to clean up our lives, to move us from the sins of the past to the promise of the future. Our futures are bright and joyous, but while we were still in sin, we left a trail of stench behind us.

  Well, God honored Moses’ request, and the frogs were again in their place. I suspect it was a long time before frogs were considered a delicacy in that region. But let’s see how Pharaoh keeps his promise.

  Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said.

  Notice who hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Not God, but Pharaoh himself hardened his heart. And he also did not keep his promise.

  I am so glad that I serve God who keeps promises!

  In Revelation 16:13-14 we see frogs again when the sixth angel pours out his bowl over the river Euphrates. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

  Don’t miss the fact that they are spirits of demons. So many of the gods of the ancient people were really demons in nice forms. Satan appears at times as an angel of light, but in the light of God’s righteousness he is exposed for the evil one that he is. If you are in the new age, a book you might want to read is The Beautiful Side of Evil. You may find that things are not always what they seem.

  Have a blessed night,

  Heather

  • 12:12 am
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