Frog Lovers
Hear now, O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice? You who hate good and love evil; who strip the skin from My people, and the flesh from their bones. – Micah 3:1-2.
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 sacrifice to the Lord.” And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Accept the honor of saying when I shall intercede for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only.” So he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. And the frogs shall depart from you, from your houses, from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.” – Exodus 8:8-11.
Last week in Boca Raton, Florida, Henry Farrell (46-years-old) was arrested again. This makes 189 times that Henry has been arrested, again. This time Farrell tried a carjacking outside of a coffee shop during which he threatened to kill the driver. For this latest offense Farrell is being held on charges of carjacking, possession of marijuana, and possession of paraphernalia. Farrell has been arrested in the past for drug possession, retail theft, fraud, grand theft, and other charges. In Farrell’s defense, it is said that he is bi-polar. However, there are a vast number of people suffering from being bi-polar who have not been arrested 190 times.
Some have developed a love of evil. They hate what is good and love the bad. Solomon speaks of this in the Book of Proverbs where he writes: “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence (Proverbs 4:14-17).” There are some who love what is bad and only live so that they can do more evil.
How did the evil lovers become what they are? How did they end up in this condition? Maybe it was because they wanted one more night with the frogs. In the Book of Exodus, Pharaoh resists the will of God for the Hebrews to be set free. Each time Pharaoh resists, another plague comes upon the Egyptians (but not on the Hebrews). The water of the Nile River has been turned to blood but still Pharaoh resists. Then a plague of frogs come upon the Egyptians. There are frogs covering nearly every inch of the land and in their houses and the palace of Pharaoh. Everywhere they turned, everywhere they stepped, there were frogs and more frogs. It must have been miserable but when Moses asked Pharaoh when he wanted the frogs to be removed, he said, not today, not tonight, no, Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” Pharaoh wanted one more night with the frogs. Maybe that is where it begins. We want just one more hour, one more day, one more night with our sin and the result is that we want another, and another until we end up like Henry Farrell or worse. As Solomon says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble (Proverbs 4:19).”
Solomon gives us instruction as to how to escape the fate of the lovers of evil who want one more night with the frogs. Solomon says, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on (Proverbs 4:14-15).” There is a better way to live. You do not have to live with the frogs! As Solomon describes that better way, “…the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:19).” Don’t spend another night with frogs! Ask the Lord to take those frogs away today and step onto the path that “shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.”
(How do people end up loving evil and hating what is good?)