Pastor Bryan Lowe

One More Night With the Frogs

⁹“You set the time!” Moses replied. “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.”

¹⁰“Do it tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

“All right,” Moses replied, “it will be as you have said. Then you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

Exodus 8:9-10

Often there comes a point in a person’s life that not to make a decision, becomes the decision.

This was the dynamic working in Pharaoh’s mind. God had warned him earlier that he must release the Jews from slavery. But he oscillates, and vacillates after each warning. His stubborn indecisiveness is remarkable. Pharaoh resists, and becomes more and more obstinate.

There is a deep danger of delay.

God sends 10 plagues– quite dramatic and miraculous. But “the supernatural” really can’t touch certain hearts. There were certain Pharisees in Jesus’ time that they would not believe, no matter what Jesus did. (We call this, “hardness of heart.”)

In this particular ‘show-down’ a plague of frogs is threatened. It’s kind of funny, but Pharaoh doesn’t dispute the possibility of this “green invasion.” He just absorbs the inevitable. Pharaoh simply replies, “I will take one more night with the frogs.”

Within Egyptian mythology the frog was regarded as “holy.” It wasn’t to be harmed or killed. It was regarded as a blessing to the people. But that was hardly the case among the enemies of God’s chosen.

Often there comes a point in a person’s life that not to make a decision, becomes the decision.

Sadly to say, there are so many like that man today. “Lord, I’m going to follow You, but let me have just one more fling, one more trip to Vegas, or the bar, or the Princess cruise, or a new car– just “one more night with the frogs!” And the “one more night” stretches out into a terrible, endless night, in the blackness of darkness forever.

“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

2 Corinthians 6:2

There’s urgency here, crucial and serious. Sometimes the window closes, and your “non-decision” matters more than you realize. A soft heart slowly hardens over time–that is frightening.

Will you choose to spend another night with the frogs, that is, in your sins? Or will you come to Jesus Christ for salvation today? There are consequences that follow each decision. What will you decide today? Will it be sin or the Savior? Will it be Heaven or Hell? Will it be forgiveness or the frogs? What will you do with the message you have read here today?

Often there comes a point in a person’s life that not to make a decision, becomes the decision.

There is Death in the Camp

And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

⁶Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.

Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Numbers 21:6-9, ESV

The children of Israel were under attack by thousands of snakes. I remember hearing of Jonestown, where on November 18, 1978 when 918 people drank ‘kool-aid’ mixed with cyanide. The whole thing was based on Jim Jones‘ delusion and rampant paranoia.

Death like this is never easy to deal with. It’s frightening. It boggles our mind.

It’s hear we read of poisonous snakes attacking people in the camp of Israel. The people had taken umbrage with God and Moses because the way was too hard. They accused God of leading them out of Egypt, just so He could whole-scale destroy them.

I venture to say that the effects of sin have a terrible tendency (and a purpose) to kill people. Its infection will work through our “blood stream” and be a certain poison that will eventually destroy us.

If we could actually see the snakes we might just take our sin a bit more seriously.

But our particular viperous horde comes to us on a spiritual level. We aren’t suddenly falling down, and our sin doesn’t bring us immediate death. (A slow death, which is, maybe harder.) We see it sometimes, but we can’t do anything about it.

Like it or not, there is a savage battle going on in our hearts and minds.

The cross of Jesus is the only antidote, and through faith the poison is being rendered inert. But personally I must admit, there are good days, and not-so-good ones. I know it’s the poison that works inside of me. Others may see it sometimes, but it’s pretty obvious to me.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

John 3:14-15, ESV

I read the following story somewhere, and it seems to explain exactly what i want to say. I think it is more than a cute story. If we should take the time and unzip it, the truth will spill out.

“A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other wolf is good. he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”

The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?” The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”

Look to Jesus, who was lifted up to destroy our sin, and heal our lives. Fix your eyes on Him, and He will save.

My other teaching site is at alaskabibleteacher.com

For a deeper study in Numbers 21 can be found at: A Place for Truth.

Learning to Walk Again

“I took Israel by the arm and taught them to walk. But they would not admit that I was the one who had healed them.”

Hosea 11:3

Early in my walk, over 40 years ago, I concluded that I would be able to acquire all the knowledge that I could ever want. I was on the short track, going up of course. It was a glorious thing, it took me some time to realize I was very ignorant of so much.

The Bible communicates truth, not always facts.

As I age, I start to understand that things are much more enigmatic and unfathomable than I ever dreamed they would be. It is a step of faith to accept the truth when there are still a lot of things that are still vague.

Take the mystery of healing for example:

“You say you have faith to be healed, but what about the faith to be sick?”

Mike Mason

That’s a penetrating question, indeed. “Why are some healed, and others are not? Why do I have eternal life, and my friend does not? Why should AIDS sweep through poor African villages when I live in a very comfortable suburb in the US?”

I have many other questions like this.

And I’m not making a whole lot of headway here. Reasons and facts are not there. Life becomes more mysterious and inscrutable. But there is a word we must know–it is the word “trust.” It is a faith that assists us through the landscape of challenging questions.

As a sometimes struggling, mentally ill Christian, many (even in my own church) create more questions for me. “Therapists, psychiatrists, and daily medications are really good, but do you really need them?” or “Did God create in you the need for lithium and Zoloft?” and ” How can you follow Jesus when you have all of these depression issues?”

And here’s a humdinger that stings, “Where is your joy?”

But it is precisely these issues that help me be a disciple. Someone who must trust.

I’ve been slowly learning you see. And my weaknesses are becoming my strengths. They lead me to exercise my feeble faith. I trust in Jesus; my faith helps me trust. I find it interesting to note that the Book of Psalms, for the most part, was written by “a broken believer” like David– a king and (also) a rascal.

These nebulous areas have only increased.

And ironically my trust has only grown. I have more questions than ever before, but my faith in him only gets stronger. I suppose I will never, ever be a gleefully upbeat, cheery person. But I am learning “to trust and obey, there is no other way…”

He himself has taken up the chore of teaching me to walk again. But just one thing, He wants me to keep trusting.

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
    my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
²But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Psalm 131:1-2