What six-year-old boy doesn’t like frogs? I kept an eagle eye out for any frog-like hopping from my grandpa’s lap as he drove the old Sears lawn tractor over the yard in Michigan. We’d stop at every movement, and I’d jump down and scoop up leopard frogs, rescuing them from the mower blades and placing them safely in a box to keep as pets for the day. Win-win! I’d dream of frogs – boxes full of the slippery jumpy creatures, all mine! So, like every little boy I knew in Sunday school, I had a hard time making sense of the words “plague” and “frog” placed so close together in Exodus 7. “What would you do if you could catch as many frogs as you wanted?” we’d ask each other. “I’d keep them in a box!” we’d all answer. Naturally. Six-year-old boys.
But a plague it was – and a significant one as it was the last sign Moses performed the magicians of Egypt could reproduce by their “secret arts.” And it got me thinking – what am I supposed to think about this? Consider this – God tells Moses to go to Egypt and perform some signs to prove God is with him. He goes, and everything he shows the Egyptians they can copy. Snakes from walking sticks? Got it. Water to blood? Ew, gross, but okay, done. Frogs? This is getting weirder, but hey, the six-year-olds like it… and then the gnats. The magicians are done. Can’t do it. They tell Pharoah, “This is the finger of God!”
And this is what I came up with – the world can imitate God’s ways for a while. But then it can’t. Let’s take it out of the plagues. That was just the catalyst for this train of thought. Let’s put it into something much more palatable to those of us who are not six-year-old boys – say, love. Jesus sends us out like a Moses into a captive world and tells us to love one another. It’s the sign that Jesus is our Lord and that we are His disciples (John 13:35). Jesus says everyone will see it. Everyone will know it. It’s got God’s prints all over it!
You see, the power behind the staff to the snake, the water to blood, the frogs – it was all God. The magicians see his fingers – later they will see His mighty hand and outstretched arm! It was unmistakable, finally even to Pharoah! But when God’s love is poured out into our hearts by the power of the Spirit (Romans 5:5); or when His incomprehensible peace guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7); or when we are filled with indescribable joy (I Peter 1:8) – it is something the world can only dimly sketch. It can never duplicate, and it finally has to admit this is God’s doing – and it has the power to free us all!