REMOVING THE FROGS
THEME: REMOVING SINFUL HABITS TODAY NOT TOMORROW.
There was a merciful dullness in her mind now, a dullness that she knew from long experience would soon give way to sharp pain, even as severed tissues, shocked by the surgeon’s knife, have a brief instant of insensibility before their agony begins. “I won’t think of it now,” she thought grimly, summoning up her old charm. “I’ll go crazy if I think about losing him now. I’ll think of it tomorrow. “But,” cried her heart, casting aside the charm and beginning to ache, “I can’t let him Go! There must be some way!”
With the spirit of her people who would not know defeat, even when it stared them in the face, she raised her chin. She could get Rhett back. She knew she could. There had never been a man she couldn’t get, once she set her mind upon it. “I’ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.
Scarlet was not the only one to worry about problem until tomorrow. In fact, a long, long time ago, Pharaoh had the same mindset. Pharaoh shockingly wanted to wait until tomorrow to worry about removing the plague of frogs on his nation. “Exodus 8:1-13 “Then the LORD said 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 your whole territory with frogs. "And the Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls. "So the frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants."’" Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, ’Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make frogs 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 the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the LORD that He remove the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD." And Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I entreat for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile?" Then he said, "Tomorrow." So he said, "May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. "And the frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile." Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD concerning the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields.”
Scarlet and Pharaoh were two people that lived after the slogan of “never doing today, what can be put off until tomorrow.” But why would Pharaoh delay Moses praying to God to remove the frogs. It must have been a serious pain to deal with frogs in the houses, in the Businesses, on the tables, and under your feet. Frogs were everywhere. Why would Pharaoh put off removing the frogs from the nation until the next day? What was he thinking? He plainly hated the frogs being there. He was destructive to the surroundings. It was annoying. What made Pharaoh keep the frogs around?
Moses must have thought he was doing him a favor when he asked him when he wanted the frogs removed. I am sure Moses expected Pharaoh to demand that he remove the frogs immediately. Moses was being kind to Pharaoh but Pharaoh still delayed the removal of the frogs. Just imagine the shock on Moses’ face when Pharaoh told him to wait a day. Notice that Moses was like find with me if you do not want these frogs out of the way. I will wait until tomorrow if you want.
Pharaoh was certainly not like my grandmother Webster. Grandmother hated to creatures on earth—caterpillars and frogs. Of course as some of you know I was the feared frog catcher of Nova Scotia growing up. My grandmother lived on a huge farm with ponds and brooks running through it. There were tons of places to catch frogs on her property. Every young child who catches a huge frog wants to showoff his catch. No one believes the big frog got away story like people do not believe the big fish got away stories. So I would bring the frogs to grandmother. We learned very swiftly that grandmother wanted nothing to do with frogs in the house. Grandmother would demand adamantly that we take that frog out of the house immediately. Grandmother certain was no pharaoh when it comes to tolerating frogs.
Pharaoh’s behavior may shock us. Who would put up with frogs all over the place? But we should not be too shocked. Many times we put off what we should have done that day. We procrastinate all the time. Especially when it comes to religious stuff because there is always something standing in the way of us and the work of the church, which is holding us back from removing our personal frogs. Many times we talk about the sin of omission. This is the sin of knowing the right thing to do but not doing it. James talks about the sin of procrastination. This is the sin of planning to do something but delaying it for another day. James mentions this sin in James 4:13-17 “Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
How often have we put off the work of the church until another day? We know that we should make a visit to the person who is sick. We know that we should see that member who has not been coming. But we do not act upon our intentions. It is easier to just let the frogs remain. James is clear in expecting that Christians do the work of the church as soon as possible. No one knows if the next day is promised. This was the mistake of the rich fool. He believed that tomorrow was always promised. Luke 12:17-20 “"The land of a certain rich man was very productive. "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ "And he said, ’ this is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ’And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ "But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” We act like Pharaoh when we put off the duties of the day. Instead of embracing the work, we desire to think about it tomorrow.
Someone has to speak up at this time and declare, “There is no way I would wait until tomorrow to get rid of those frogs. These frogs were causing havoc all over the place. Sure, I might not do what I am supposed to do, but this does not cause me pain. The frogs were like a destructive habit. They were ruining everything around them. Why would Pharaoh wait a whole day to remove something so painful? This is a great question. But it has a simply answer because many people do the same thing as Pharaoh.
Sometimes it is easier to put up with the pain than the change. The change is too painful. Even though the habit or the sinful addiction is destroying a person’s life, it is too harsh of a change to eliminate the habit. It is easier to put up with the consequences of the addiction than it is to change completely. People might try to control the addiction by cutting down. But there is no attempt to completely stop the damaging behavior.
The addiction might cause a person to hate themselves. To have negative feelings about themselves, but they will not repent of the action. An alcoholic with drink every night and wake up every morning hating his behavior. But he will not stop drinking. A man will despise himself for mistaking his wife, but it is too hard to change so he continues. Addiction is a painful motive in the world. It is like the frogs with Pharaoh. Once you become use to the frogs, the effects are not as severe. In fact some addiction is a comfort for people. Even though they hate the behavior, it is what they are use to and feel secure with. People rather accept the pain of addiction than the horror of change. Change can be more painful and difficult than certain addictions. This is why some people have to hit rock bottom before there is real change of heart. As long as a person feels that they can control the addiction, tomorrow is always a better day to change.
Everyone who has struggled with addiction, whether sexual, drugs, drinking, abusive, work alcoholic, anger, and over eating, whatever it is—most of these people have told themselves that today was the last day. That they will never pick up the bottle again, hit their wives or scream at them, or over eat again. Tomorrow was going to be the quitting day. Those with addiction will not quit or change for the day, but tomorrow is the day of repentance. Tomorrow is going to be the day when he or she changes their life. Just one more drink will not hurt, just one more affair and he will stop for good, just one more anger outburst and that is it, but tomorrow never comes for an addict. Tomorrow never comes because today is all we have. Tomorrow is only a dream to make procrastination feel better. Today is the only time we have.
This woman that I’m thinking about was in her sixties when she told me. She aid it happened when she was about seven. Her mother and father were always real chatty at supper. It was a large family, a lot of kids and suppertime—I call it supper, some people call it dinner—not at suppertime they just all had a good time., everybody laughing and talking, what happened, and what was good, and what was bad, and this and that, Mom and Dad talking, the kids all talking. It was just a wonderful time. “Just before supper, Mom and Dad got into it,” she said. “I’d never seen them like that. I’d never heard them talk to each other that way—their faces red and screaming at each other. Then they saw us kids waiting for supper and they got quiet. Momma said “sit down.” “Let’s eat.” We sat down, and it was quiet as a graveyard. Nobody talked during supper. Nobody talked at breakfast. Nobody talked at lunch. Nobody…” She said for three weeks nobody spoke at a mean, and Mom and Dad did not speak. “After about three weeks, they began to be civil to each other, but our home was never the same.” For three weeks, tomorrow was better than today to finally speak. Tomorrow is better to remove the frogs from you life. Tomorrow is better to give up the addictions. Why do you wait until tomorrow to change your life?
