5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” 6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. (Exodus 8:5-7)
Wickedness and wisdom are never friends. When you choose to follow the way of wickedness and sin, wisdom will not be available to guide you. What may appear to you as wisdom will just be plain foolishness, or even stupidity, both in the eyes of God as well as in the eyes of observers, if they themselves are wise enough to recognize the difference. God showed Pharaoh His power by multiplying the frogs and causing them to come up on the land of Egypt. Thinking that they can outsmart God, the magicians of Egypt (under the instructions of Pharaoh I’m sure) also did the same thing. So instead of countering God’s miracles, they actually helped fulfill the second plague! Frogs are normally considered sacred in Egypt at this time (they call their frog god Heqt). But having millions of them climb upon your bed at night or kitchen by day is not something that you or anyone can appreciate. Such a scene will surely cause stress! So the result of their wickedness is more suffering for Pharaoh and his people. What a mess indeed! Yet, this is what sin does — we do foolish things to harm ourselves and others. This results in stress in our lives. So if you’re experiencing stress lately, maybe it’s time to evaluate whether we are actually hardening our hearts toward God. Maybe you’re relying on your own wisdom to try to solve your problems, and that’s creating a mess and adding stress in your life. Stop it right now! When there’s a mess, there’s bound to be stress!