Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Another Night With The Frogs



Exodus 8:1-15


And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.


2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:


3 and the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs:


4 and the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.


5 And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.


6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.


7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.


8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat 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 do sacrifice unto the Lord.


9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?


10 And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God.


11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.


12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.


13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.


14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank.


15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”




One of the biggest conflicts a person has within themselves is procrastination.




Procrastination means: to put off intentionally or habitually the doing of something that should be done.



Procrastination literally is a thief of time.




The dictionary says: Time is a period during which a process or condition exist.
A process is something that is marked by gradual change that leads to a particular result.
So when we think of time we understand that it is a period within our life that there is a process going on which is leading to a particular result.
However, procrastination robs you of time, which means that for that period in your life when there should be progress due to the process there is nothing going on.




Because of procrastination people have missed out on an abundance of things that - if they would have stopped procrastinating then things would have worked out differently.
How many times have you heard someone say or you yourself have been one that has said if I only would have done this or that….., but because I keep putting it off I missed out on that.
If I only would have done it yesterday I could have had it by now. Because of procrastination they missed out.




Well you are familiar with the story - Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the children of Israel go. And the Bible says God caused plagues to come up against and afflict Egypt in order that Pharaoh would see that God is God and he would let the children of Israel go free.




The second plague that came upon Egypt was the plague of frogs.
Moses had done what God said to do and he told Pharaoh to let the people go, Pharaoh refused, so God told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch forth his rod over all the water, the rivers, ponds, streams, and fountains and turn them to blood. In so doing - Pharaoh’s magicians, whom we believe to be Jannes and Jambres also turned some water into blood.
Don’t think the devil doesn’t have power, but he is not omnipotent.
The devil can only deceive you into thinking that he is able to do the things that God can do, but I am going to show you how that is a lie. In turning the water, which is the life-source into blood all the creatures in the water died and caused a great stench in Egypt and after seven days God sent Moses to Pharaoh and Moses said unto Pharaoh, “God said let my people go so they can worship me and if you don’t let them go that He is going to bring upon Egypt a plague of frogs.”




This plague of frogs will be loathsome,
The frogs will extend from border to border,
The Nile River will swarm with them,
and they will come into your houses and into your bed chambers,
and in your beds.
The frogs will be in your ovens and in your kneading bowls.
Every corner of the land will be covered with frogs.
Once again Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he refused to let the children of Israel go.




The frogs began to be too much, so Pharaoh called Jannes and Jambres to get rid of the frogs,
but Jannes and Jambres were not able to get rid of the frogs and said surely this is the finger of God. You see, the devil caused them to be deceived by causing frogs to appear upon the land also, but when it came time to get rid off the frogs, they were not able to do so, they had been deceived.




Pretty soon Pharaoh got tired of the frogs and he called for Moses to plead with God to remove the frogs and he would let the people go to worship God.
Moses did something here that he didn’t do at any other time during the plagues. He asked Pharaoh when do you want the frogs to go,
you Pharaoh set the time,
Pharaoh said tomorrow.




How dumb can you be,
here is his opportunity to get rid of that thing that has been troubling him for some time.
That thing that has been keeping him awake at night, that thing that caused him not to be able to eat.
That thing that is literally sapping every bit of strength from his body.
It was stealing his and his people’s joy,
it was stealing their peace,
and it was causing them to literally loose their ever loving mind.
He had the opportunity to get rid of it right then and there and he said get rid of them tomorrow.
But before we rush to put Pharaoh in a mental institution,
before we call 911 to have him taken away in a straight jacket, let us look at the frogs in our own life. When do you want the frogs in your life to go.




You know the ones,
the frogs of troubles,
the frogs of disappointments,
the frogs of discouragements,
the frogs of anxieties,
frogs of sorrows,
frogs of sickness,
frogs of grief,
loneliness,
and discontentment that plague us morning, noon, and night.




Don’t wait until tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes.
Tomorrow just might be too late.
Why would you want to spend another night with the frogs?




Why would you want to stay in that same old mess any longer then you have to. That habit that you thought you could not break……
you don’t have to spend another night with it.
That burden that you have been carrying around for so time you don’t have to spend another night with it.
That sickness that the doctor said is fatal you don’t have to spend another night with.
You can get rid of that frog in your life right now.
Just like the woman with the issue of blood she made up in her mind that she wasn’t going to spend another night in that same old condition, so she touched the hem of His garment and was made whole,
because she refused to spend another night with the frogs.
Blind Bartimaeus, who was told to keep quiet,
refused to spend another night in that same condition,
he said to himself I refuse to spend another night with the frogs,
so he cried out with a loud voice Have Mercy on ME.




God gave Pharoah the opportunity to choose the day of his deliverance………

Joshua spoke prophetically to us as he spoke to Israel…choose you this day whom you will serve.

2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Choose salvation today






1 comment:

Pastor R Kent Smith said...

Good thought....

Nice site...

Even better music.....

God Bless....

rks