A very telling story comes out of the 2nd World War about some marines who were ship-wrecked in the South Pacific. After days of floating in a life raft, without food or water, finally—they see land! "Land ahoy!" someone shouts. Their fear and anxiety begins to fade, and they make their way to the shore. They all kiss the ground and say prayers of gratitude to God for saving them. But their adventure was not over yet!
Very quickly, they see signs of life on that island—it's inhabited, but by whom? Are we safe here? We're weak and hungry, and have no weapons for self-defense. Will the people welcome us or kill us on sight? And their fears return! Will they even live to see tomorrow? One of the marines climbs up a tall palm tree to try to get a clue as to what to expect. Suddenly, the man calls down, "It's O.K., fellas! It's more than O.K.! We're saved! I see a steeple with a cross on it! Praise God—a cross!"
To him, it was a sure sign of safety and rescue. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (1:18) You see, only those who are truly born again will understand just how precious the Cross is, while those who choose their own strength can do nothing but consider the Cross and its purposes as foolishness. It's a matter of a calling—a calling to the Cross! Paul went on to write, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many nobles are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (vss. 26,27)
In other words, people, who are full of themselves, thinking they are too smart and sophisticated for these things, will not even be able to answer the call to the Cross, until they repent and forsake their sin. Jesus not only pointed His followers to His Cross, but also to their own—and ultimately, us to ours! "He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his own cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Mt. 10:37-39)
We must hear the call to the Cross—hear it and follow it; not tomorrow, but right now! Isn't that just the response of so many in these days of self-will and procrastination? Tomorrow! In a sense, we are in a similar situation as those shipwrecked marines—at first, we think we are fine; yes, even saved! But it is not until we truly embrace the Cross and its significance, that we have a sure sign of safety and rescue! During this Season of Lent, we are going back to when Israel first found deliverance from bondage in Egypt. When the enemy—Pharaoh himself—refused to let God's people go and live in true freedom, the Lord proceeded to make clear Who was really in control. The first plague He sent their way was a matter of turning the water of Egypt into blood, but, even then, the king's heart was hardened, due to pride, and he refused to turn them loose.
Right now, I'm going to focus on the next miracle—the plague of the frogs. Frogs? Why frogs? Well, like the first miracle, honing in on one of the Egyptian gods, Hapi, the god of the Nile, this second plague is revealing the sovereignty of the One True God over yet another of Egypt's gods—Heket, the goddess of fertility, water, and renewal. In pictures found of her, we see a human form, but with the head of a frog. This is how it happened—..."the Lord spake unto Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt." (Exodus 8:5,6) In fact, they were everywhere—all through their houses, all through their bedrooms, and even in their beds—thousands of them! Can you imagine! They would go to knead their bread, and frogs; go to cook their meals, and open the oven doors—frogs! Like with the first plague, Egypt's magicians copied the feat through demonic powers, and there were even more frogs!
What an unbelievable mess! It is a rather graphic picture of disgusting reliance upon the self-life to get us through. This goddess of fertility, water, and renewal, represents a world view of reproducing its own version of prosperity; a life that can only be lived in the murkiness of stagnant water; and, last, but not least, a renewal based on worldly success. It points to a total ignoring of the Spirit-led life, and complete dependence on living by the dictates of the flesh—what we want, and not what God wants! It is the uncrucified and unsanctified existence. A.W. Tozer, the great 20th Century preacher, put it this way—"Our uncrucified flesh will rob us of purity of heart, Christ-likeness of character, spiritual insight, fruitfulness; and more than all, it will hide from us the vision of God's face...Why do we build our churches upon human flesh, for we teach men not to die with Christ, but to live in the strength of their dying manhood."
Indeed, why? It is simply because we often want to be the one in control, following our own dreams and plans instead of His. Or, at the very least, to put Him off until tomorrow. Many do not want to take the chance of true fertility—having reproduced in us and through us the transforming life of Christ; or true regeneration by the spiritual waters of regeneration; or true renewal by the resurrection power of Jesus. Years ago, our children's ministry involved puppet shows, one of which focused on Barry McGuire's song, "Bullfrogs and Butterflies." You see, frogs are not just for judgment, but a promise. In part, it declared, "There's old tad pole in a fishin' hole. He couldn't croak or jump to save his soul, but then one day—the funniest thing—you know he started growin' and turnin' green. He jumped up on a lily pad, croakin' out a song—he gave it all he had—yes, he did! He's singin' 'Bullfrogs and butterflies, they've both been born again!'" Even nature is a picture of the true believer's transformation. Acts 2 gives us a clear depiction of that fruitfulness—"...they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship..." (vs. 42) So if this "fruit" of salvation is not evident, one would have to question being born-again! Inspect the fruit—not tomorrow, right now!
You see, a very strange thing happened when Pharaoh wanted the plague of frogs to be gone. When Moses asked him when he wanted the disgusting things to go away, you would think that the obvious answer would have been, "Immediately!" or, perhaps, even more appropriately, "Yesterday!" But that is not what Pharaoh said—he said, "Tomorrow!" I always assumed it was nothing more than strange, but a little deeper look at it reveals something more—"And he (Pharaoh) said, Tomorrow. And he (Moses) said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God." (vs. 10) In other words, it was God who led Pharaoh to request such a thing, and then, when it actually happened, He, and He alone—God—would be known to be in total control, even over the hard things of life! Not only would the frogs be hard, but not having them would be hard, too—"...the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died...and they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank." (vss. 13,14) Pharaoh refused to learn from the stench of his own ways, but what about the people of Israel? We are not told about them being exempt from this affliction, as with some of the other plagues. Perhaps the people of God would learn—the Psalmist writes, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." (119:71) Yes, they test us, but, more than that, we learn to walk rightly before Him—"Many are the afflictions of the righteous." (Ps. 34:19)
The late David Wilkerson, of "The Cross and the Switchblade," fame, once told the story about one of Times Square's missionary couples who learned this lesson the hard way. Traveling towards the borders of a desperately poor and needy 3rd world country with a truck load of supplies, about five miles out, their engine started to act up. When they reached the border guards, it gave up altogether. As they watched the car in front of them go on ahead, they were greatly disappointed. Suddenly, the guards started to run around frantically, shouting, "Big explosion not far from here—one of the warring factions blew up the last car through here!" If the missionaries' truck had been working properly, it could have been them! The next morning, it started right up—God's purposes had been accomplished through this affliction. Always remember—God is calling every heart and life to the Cross. Yours and mine—not tomorrow; right now!
