9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.” 10 “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said. (Exodus 8:9-10)
Originally written in 2009
If you had frogs climbing all over your household, in your tub, in your shoes, in your refrigerator and someone told you that you could choose when the frogs would leave, what would you say?
“Immediately! Right now! Yesterday!”
But what did the Pharoah say, “Tomorrow.” What was he thinking?!
While reading the Pharoah’s response I was reminded of the times in my life when I have done the exact same thing! Those problematic behaviors and attitudes (frogs) in my life which I could have asked the Lord to take away immediately; instead I waited until tomorrow to ask for release. There was a part of me that was scared that I wouldn’t know how to live if I didn’t have those specific behaviors/attitudes as problems in my life. I had asked other people to pray for the problem(s), but I never asked the Lord myself. Look again at what Moses said to the Pharoah, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.” The Pharoah was told to pick the time of healing. He had to ask. The frogs were removed at the time he asked them to be removed. I was healed when I asked the Lord to heal me. Are you asking the Lord for what you want Him to heal?
Why don’t we ask? Often if we don’t see an instant result we become comfortable with our behaviors/attitudes. Sometimes others in our lives have grown comfortable with our problems. To continue asking becomes a risky thing. Our flesh puts up a “stink” when we ask for healing from our comfortable problem. Look at Exodus again and see what happened when the prayer was answered, “…and the land reeked of them (the dead frogs).”
Sometimes when God heals us of our problems our flesh (the carnal side of us) fights it and puts up a stink. I must admit that every once in awhile I think about retreating into that old comfort zone behavior/attitude. Then I’m reminded that there must have been something wrong with that behavior/attitude if the Lord chose to heal it! The good news is that the reek of our dying problems generally disappears over time. We have to sometimes go through the “stink” of dying to our flesh (e.g. fear, avoidance, denial, pride, disobedience, etc.) as the problems in our life are put to death. But the Lord brings us through the stench and we are victorious through Him. What ever the problem, however much the death of the problem reeks, the end result is the same: The Lord will set us free as He promised.
So be brave and take the first step. Ask the Lord to heal you “Today” of the problem(s) that have become comfort zones for you. Trust that the Lord will bring you through the dying to your flesh and bring you to the clean air on the other side.
Until next time blessings and healing