Do You Have A Frog Problem? Series

Do You Have A Frog Problem?

Exodus 8:1-15

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.

- As we go through this study, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last week, we asked the question, “Who do you rely upon?”

- We looked at the first plague, when God turned the water of the Nile River into blood, which killed all the fish.

- We saw that the Egyptians relied on the Nile River for their religion, for provision of their food and water, and for their livelihood.

- Through this, God showed them that their gods were fake and had no power.

- This amazing miracle should have been enough to convince Pharaoh he was fighting a losing battle, but Pharaoh was stubborn and chose to harden his heart and not let God’s people go.

- So we find ourselves this week with God sending a second plague, the plague of frogs.

- When I was a kid, I used to go to the Baptist Camp in Farmington.

- I looked forward to it all year, and always had a great time.

- When you first pull up to the camp, you see a small pond that’s right next to the Conference building.

- My friend Stephen Lincoln and I would always run over to that pond, and the first thing he’d do was try to catch a frog.

- That pond was full of frogs, and as soon as you stepped foot out of your vehicle, you could hear them croaking.

- Stephen was really good at catching the frogs, but I didn’t care about them too much.

- Yet he’d always brings his cupped hands right up to me and say, “Here you go, Bobby”, and try to get me to hold the frog.

- I didn’t really care for frogs, so I’d say no, and if I remember correctly, it’d usually end up with him chasing me.

- Some people love frogs, others hate them.

- Well the Egyptians liked frogs, but God was about to send a plague that was going to change all their opinions about frogs.

- They were about to have a frog problem.

- So, let’s look at three things we see in this passage this morning.

I.) The Frogs Multiplied- Vs 1-3a

- Once again, God sends Moses before Pharaoh to demand the release of His people.

- Pharaoh’s already shown himself to be stubborn once, yet instead of striking him dead, or sending the most horrible plague next, God instead sends a second plague, a plague of frogs.

- When I think of a frog, sure, I think they’re slimy and gross, but I don’t think of them as some scary creature to be feared…

- So to Pharaoh, when Moses told him what the next plague would be, he probably wasn’t all that scared…

- “Frogs? Who cares? I can handle frogs!”

- Yet God was about to overwhelm him and his people with a whole bunch of frogs.

- What’s interesting about this plague is that the Egyptians believed that frogs had divine power.

- They were sacred and were not to be killed.

- They worshipped the goddess Heqet, and they believed she looked like a woman with a frog’s head.

- They believed that her nostrils blew forth the breath of life and that she helped women in childbirth.

- To show their devotion to her, they wore amulets in the shape of a frog.

- So, once again, I think God has a sense of humor.

- If the Egyptians wanted to worship frogs and a woman with a frog’s head, then He was going to give them what they wanted…a whole lot of frogs!

- Or, as God puts it in vs 2, “an abundant supply” of frogs.

- So, what was so horrible about a plague of frogs?

- We’ll look a little more at some of the problems in the next point, but one of the problems was that with all these frogs being multiplied, there was going to be a loud, non-stop croaking.

- Now, I don’t know about you, but when I wake up in the middle of the night and hear a frog croaking in the house, it’s really annoying.

- It’s almost like the croaking gets louder and louder, and it’s really hard to find the spot where the croaking is coming from.

- Ribbit, ribbit…

- When there’s more than one frog croaking, that’s even worse, because it’s almost like they’re talking to each other.

- Then, when you get a whole bunch together, forget about getting any form of sleep.

- The Egyptians had to deal with the croaking of thousands upon thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands, of frogs croaking…