Perhaps you have heard of Pharaoh, the great king of Egypt. He was keeping the children of Israel as slaves to make bricks for his projects. But God knew what Pharaoh was doing, and He sent Moses to tell him, “Let My people go!”
Pharaoh’s answer was very bold against God. He said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” (Exodus 5:2).
Maybe you have said bold words like that. But everyone needs to listen to God. He says, “The wages of sin is death.” God means what He says. And the only way you can escape the wages of your sins is to repent and believe what God says about a Substitute He has provided for you.
Pharaoh did not care what God said, so God spoke to him in ways that were not very pleasant. One of those ways was the plague of frogs.
The Nile River flowed through Egypt, and in its quieter spots there were large, green frogs, long-legged and slippery. Perhaps we like them in the river when they swell out their throats and sing. But God’s purpose was intended to make Pharaoh obey His voice. God told Aaron to stretch out his rod over the river so that frogs would come up on the land. And they came! They came right into the Egyptians’ houses and into their bedrooms and into their beds! Not just a few, but lots and lots of them - in the kitchens and in their mixing bowls and in the ovens! In fact, the frogs were jumping all over the people and their servants, till nobody could get a moment’s peace.
Pharaoh’s magicians couldn’t make the frogs go away, and Pharaoh was terribly upset. He told Moses, “Entreat the Lord, that He may take away the frogs from me.”
“When?” asked Moses.
“Tomorrow!” answered Pharaoh.
God answered Moses’ prayer, and from then on the frogs stayed in the river. But the frogs already on land died in the bedrooms and kitchens and all over, and the people gathered them into heaps, and the land stank.
Do you think Pharaoh listened now and promised to let God’s people go? No, he didn’t. I suppose his workmen figured out some way to clean up the mess and then ordered the children of Israel to get back to work making bricks.
Do you hear the tender, loving voice of God speaking to you when troubles come? Will you refuse to listen to Him as Pharaoh did? There were more troubles for Pharaoh after that, and there will be in your life too, because God has promised, “The wages of sin is death.”
God finally sent death into every family of those Egyptian people, and there was a great and bitter cry. Why didn’t they listen at first? And why don’t you listen to God’s warnings? Even bad words you have said are sin and recorded by God Himself, and “the wages of sin is death.”
Is there any hope for you? Is there anyone willing to die in your place since you have sinned against God?
There is a wonderful promise in God’s Word which says, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The work is done. The Savior died and rose again. But He is not everybody’s Savior, because there are so many who go their own way, with unbelieving hearts, and they blame God for the troubles He sends.
Won’t you thank Him for troubles that make you listen - and thank Him for the precious blood of Jesus which cleanses us from all sin? Pharaoh didn’t listen. Will you?