This illustration is not new to me, but it may be to someone else.  I know that in my situation procrastination can be a destructive force in itself.  (Like when I almost lost my mother several thousand dollars because I “couldn’t” get around to handling her paperwork.  Thanks, Darlene and Cindy, for bailing her–and me!–out.)

Exo 8:1-3  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.  (2)  But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs.  (3)  The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls.

Did you ever run over a frog with your car or motorcycle?  Did you ever step on one?  Did you ever find one in your chicken nuggets?  Then you understand how frogs could be a plague on Egypt–a destructive miracle designed to motivate Pharoah to let the Israeli slaves go.  But when negotiations led him to the point of setting a date for the exit strategy,

Exo 8:10-13  … he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.  (11)  The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.”  (12)  So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.  (13)  And the LORD did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields.

Why not today?  What on earth possessed the king to sleep in a bed full of amphibians for another night?  Why condemn his people to anther breakfast of Croak Flakes and Cream of Ribbit?

Why do we sit and stew in, on, and among our miseries, when deliverance is as close as the asking?  Why do we “enjoy” poor health and wallow in self pity?  Why do we let the carcasses  of our problems pile up in the corner, instead of burying them every night?  The answer says more about us than about our surroundings.

I started converting my father-in-law’s VHS collection to DVD this morning–a 600-hour project that takes less than 1 minute to start.  I’ve done my good deed for the day; I’m ready for a nap with the flies.  Although, if I make that one phone call…maybe I can move on to boils.  Or maybe darkness.  But I’m glad that my frogs are gone TODAY.  How about yours?

This is my first post on the new site, and I hope there will be many more.  I intend to make political comments, write book reviews, and insert a healthy dose of Bible study and spiritual insight.

Let my start here with a question:  If God hates lies, (and He does–Prov. 6:16-19), then why would Jeremiah lie for the king?  He was already under house arrest and under threat of death, so why disobey God in order to accommodate man?

 Jer 38:24-27  Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.  (25)  But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee,     and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee:  (26)  Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.  (27)  Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.

You can almost understand Rahab lying to protect the spies (Josh. 2:1-7); but Jeremiah’s fib helped no one but himself and worthless King Zedekiah.  Is this a case of situation ethics, or prophetorial hypocrisy?  Does the example of his dishonesty give you permission for the occasional “little white lie,” or do you assume that Jeremiah paid for his prevarication at a later time?

This is more than a hypothetical question–it goes to the heart of our own personal and social integrity.  Measure yourself:  who or what would you lie for?  My guess is that most Christians would lie if they thought it was important–the question is just how important the matter has to be.  It reminds me of the old story of the man who asked a young woman if she would have an affair with him for $10,000,000.  After considering the vast array of zeroes in the number, she agreed; and then he asked her if she would do the same thing for $10.  Indignantly, she asked, “What kind of a woman do you think I am?!”  The man responded, “That question has already been answered; now we’re just negotiating the price.”

Where do you draw the line when it comes to telling the truth?