Exodus Chapter 8

• Exodus 8:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
• 2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 
• 3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs: 
• 4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. 
• 5 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Say unto 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. 
• 6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 
• 7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. 

Imagine what it would be like to have frogs appearing everywhere in our house, in the garage, in the bathroom, in the kitchen where we prepare food and in our bedrooms when we are trying to sleep.

Notice that the magicians were also able to do these miracles which caused Pharaoh's heart to harden thinking it was a cheap magician's trick instead of the power of God. 

Miracles are great. I love to see miracles and see people delivered from sickness, pain, suffering and bondage. I love to see them set free by God's power and live in godliness thereby spreading the gospel to others. Those that are recipients of miracles usually will always remember them but those that are present and just see the miracles are quick to forget as we shall see if we study the journey of the children of Israel through the wilderness. 

We don't usually witness miracles all the time. There are seasons when trials come, miracles stop and some times persecution for the gospel may come. In these times we can't live on a memory, we have to have something deep inside that is so powerful that nothing can't erase the memory. This power is the Holy Spirit bringing the word of God to our remembrance and is vital in these times. The word is what we need to sustain us in dry seasons. 

I get concerned when a church gets so active in praise and worship which is great, but the word sometimes is pushed either in the background or disappears altogether. In saying this I don't want to take away from the importance of praise and worship because that is when the congregation takes part in the service and interacts in worship and are not just spectators. I want to make it clear that we need to worship as a congregation. The word though still needs to be top priority. I even read an article about drama teams replacing preaching. This they say is a new way to present the gospel. Nothing however will ever take the place of the word taught in context with the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit within the speaker.

I miss the verse by verse teaching and instruction from the word of God itself. They had that when I was growing up in the Church of God in the adult Sunday School classes. With a good teacher called of God, this will produce fruit in times to come. We must be rooted and grounded in the word. 

Suppose we get a wicked government that takes away our musical instruments, our amplifiers, our equipment and our comfortable seats. Suppose we have another depression and do not have funds for big entertainment drama props and equipment. Suppose they turn off the electricity and we can't use power point? What would we do? 

If we are so use to those things which are not bad in itself, we would probably think we couldn't worship God. 

When the word is taught by a good teacher, that will get us through. If we just sit in someone's home and study the word, pray and sing a few hymns, we can still worship. 

We need God's word in our hearts, rooted and grounded in. That will sustain us when the music stops. That will keep us from returning to sin. Without it we are missing the strength we will need in the future. 

What if we have great praise and worship services and no one knows how to be saved from sin? Throwing in a few songs that emphasize the gospel is also good. I really miss some of the older hymns that were deep in the word of God. Repeating choruses over and over is great for children but it is no substitute for the rich deep hymns written by those that were not out to sell their music but wrote the words from the debth of their hearts.

In saying all this though, we must not forbid congregational worship and singing. Just having special singers doing all the singing may leave out the whole congregation joining in worship. Congregational worship lets the audience partake of the worship and is vital along with the teaching of the word.

Worship must be balanced by much prayer, much praise and a deep study of the word. 

• Exodus 8:8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD. 

This Pharaoh was a very wishy washy Pharaoh but it allowed God to show forth His power and witnessed to the Egyptians who worshipped idols, who the real God was. If Pharaoh had of let them go on the first visit of Moses and Aaron, the Egyptians may have gone on in their lives not knowing about this God of Israel. 

• Exodus 8:9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? 
• 10 And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. 
• 11 And the frogs shall depart from thee and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only. 
• 12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 
• 13 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. 
• 14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank. 
• 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 

When God got rid of the frogs and Pharaoh saw that things were okay again, he changed his mind. 

This reminds me of some of us. After the 9/11 attack people flocked to nearby churches for understanding and to seek God. It didn't take long for us to go back to business as usual. 

Congress stopped fighting long enough to pray. It didn't take long for partisan politics to rear its ugly head again. We never learn. 

• Exodus 8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 
• 17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 

They didn't have modern lice shampoo like we do now. It must have been very hard to get rid of. 

• Exodus 8:18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. 
• 19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 

The magicians knew that there was a God greater than them. The other Egyptians recognized this long before Pharaoh. But in those days, the common person could not do anything that the king opposed. 

• Exodus 8:20 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 
• 21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. 
• 22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. 
• 23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be. 
• 24 And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies. 
• 25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 
• 26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? 

Pharaoh tried to compromise and say, just go worship here in this land instead of leaving. This means that previously they had no freedom of worship in the land in which they dwelt. 

• Exodus 8:27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. 
• 28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: entreat for me. 
• 29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD. 
• 30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the LORD. 
• 31 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one. 
• 32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go. 

So when Pharaoh saw that the flies were gone, he hardened his heart again. 

We must be willing to serve the Lord in good times as well as bad. There are people that are just the opposite. As long as things are good they serve the Lord but when trouble comes they start to doubt. Then as I said before there are those that ignore God when things are good and only cry out to Him when things get bad. 

There is a song that He is God of the mountain but also God in the valley. He is God of the day but also the night. That is not the exact words but it goes something like that. I would say also He is God for the rich and He is God for the poor. 

Paul says is best:

• 1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 
• 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 
• 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 
• 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 

Of course we know Pharaoh didn't know the Lord but we see him bouncing back and forth from one opinion to another but all of this happened to show forth God's power and who is in charge.

• Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 

God is good in both good times and bad. DC

Exodus 9