Cried To The LORD
Exodus 8:12 (ESV) – So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.
We have all been told that we shouldn’t obligate God with promises that He hasn’t made. For example, unless God somehow told you explicitly, you shouldn’t tell someone that they should quit their job because God is going to give them one that pays a lot more money. We have to be careful that we don’t make promises on God’s behalf that He Himself did not make. However, we see in our text today an example of Moses doing this and a desperate prayer to God to ask Him to act on His behalf.
In Exodus 8, Moses is interacting with Pharaoh. After the plague of frogs invades Egypt, Pharaoh begs Moses to ask the LORD to remove them. Moses then says to Pharaoh that the frogs will be removed the next day so that he would know that there is no one like the LORD. He pronounces that the frogs will leave the houses of Pharaoh and his people and be found only in the Nile. Then we read in Exodus 8:12, “So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.”
What is so significant about this passage? Moses pronounces something that the LORD didn’t promise or tell him in advance. Moses speaks out, but then he needs to entreat the LORD to do it. Our passage shows Moses praying to the LORD. It says he “cried to the LORD.” This is a cry of urgency. He pleaded with the LORD to do the thing he promised to Pharaoh. The LORD did answer his prayer and removed the frogs from the land.
While announcing God’s plans for Him without being told to do it isn’t the point of the passage, praying with fervency and desperation is. This example from Moses of crying out shows what our lives should look more like. We ought to live more by faith than what we do. We ought to take more chances than we often do and ask the LORD to move in power.
Let’s commit to a life more in need of the LORD to act on our behalf.
Let’s be slow to pronounce things that God hasn’t promised us, but let’s be more inclined to live in such a way that needs Him to move in power or we will fail. Living more dependent upon Him brings Him glory and increases our faith.
Reflection & Journal:
- Why shouldn’t we always do what Moses did?
- What is the positive thing Moses did that is worth replicating?
- How does this passage teach us about prayer and seeking the LORD?
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