At the beginning of the year our pastor taught our congregation about a form of devotions called SOAP. SOAP is an acronym for Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer. My husband, John, and I have started doing SOAP devotions every day. We each do them on our own and then spend some time discussing what we’ve learned in the process. It’s been both a great marriage builder and faith builder for us. Click here to learn more about SOAP. I could explain it better but I really need to tell you about the frog story.
Last month we read through Exodus in our SOAP devotions. I’ve read through the Bible at least a few times and I’m always totally amazed that I can continue to learn something new every time.
Anyway, if you don’t know the story from Exodus it goes something like this. Pharaoh is the leader of the Egyptians. He is not a nice guy and, in my humble opinion, not the sharpest tack in the box either. The Israelites are being held captive by Pharaoh but God has called Moses to lead them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. The problem is that Pharaoh doesn’t want to let them go. So, God tells Moses to go and speak with Pharaoh and warn him that terrible things will happen, plagues and the like, if he refuses to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh, in his stubbornness, allows the Egyptians to live through numerous plagues until eventually they basically beg the Israelites to leave.
My favorite story in the plague saga is the Plague of the Frogs. In Exodus 8, Moses tells Pharaoh that there are going to be frogs everywhere if he refuses to let the Israelites go. And, sure enough, the next day frogs were all over the place. The Israelites couldn’t take a step without landing on a frog! As Pharaoh had done before (and would do again) he calls Moses for a meeting, repents, and asks Moses to please beg God to call off the plague. To this request Moses says in verse 9, “You set the time! Tell me when you want me to pray for you, your officials, and your people. Then you and your houses will be rid of the frogs. They will remain only in the Nile River.”
And then comes the part which prompts my comment on Pharaoh’s intelligence. Exodus 8:10 reads, ‘“Do it tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.’
Tomorrow? TOMORROW? Are you kidding me? The man is surrounded by frogs, he gets to choose the time of their departure, and he says tomorrow? That’s insane. Why not right now? Were Moses to ask me a question like that my response would be “ten minutes ago would be perfect!”
Last year, when John and I were in Africa, we checked into our accommodations at the hostel where we’d be staying for the week. We’d driven for most of the day to get there. We were tired and hungry. We found our room and let’s just say, it was not the Ritz Carlton. It wasn’t even a bad Super 8. It just wasn’t the most pleasant of spots. I was in the midst of surveying the accommodations, wondering how in the world I’d make it through the week, when a frog hopped into our room. That’s when I lost it. Now, I’ve dealt with frogs before, and it’s not like I’m afraid of them, but that particular frog tipped the scale of my emotions and turned me into a sobbing mess. And it was just ONE frog! One, little bitty, yet unpredictably hoppy, frog. I didn’t look at my husband and say, “oh by the way honey, if you could get that frog out of my room tomorrow sometime that would be great.” I looked at him and said “GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT NOW!”
There is only one conclusion that can be made based on my experience and the story of the frog plague. Pharaoh was not a married man.