Why Tomorrow?

Why not today?

I heard a sermon a few weeks back that talked about the plague of frogs sent in Exodus 8.

God sends Moses before Pharaoh to free the Israelites and promises a plague of frogs if he refuses. And sure enough...

Like verses 3-4 say, “The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.”

And they did.

But in verses 8-10, Pharaoh calls Moses back, asking him to pray for the plague to stop, and when Moses gives Pharaoh the choice of when, Pharaoh says, “Tomorrow.”

The pastor elaborated on this a little bit, and it stuck out to me. So much so that I immediately wrote “tomorrow” across the top of my notebook.

Because why tomorrow? Why not right then? Why not that instant?

Why does Pharaoh ask Moses to pray tomorrow, submitting both himself and his people to an additional night with the frogs? An additional night finding them in their beds, in their clothes, in their ovens, and on their backs.

Why not pray right then and there? Why not free themselves right then and there?

But then, when we know something is good for us, when we know we have to quit a bad habit or start a good one, when we know we have wandered off, gotten lost, and need help, why do we do the same thing?

Why do we sit in the suffering, stew in the discomfort, choke down the thick air, deciding, I will start to make my way out of this tomorrow, rather than trying to take steps forward right then?

Is it fear? Is it doubt? Is it lethargy, heartbrokenness, disbelief?

What makes us choose tomorrow instead of today?

In one of my favorite Christian songs, singer Riley Clemmons asks, “How many times have I asked for grace, standing in the same broken place?” And in a way I think this is asking the same question.

We want God to make big moves right now, but we often want to start the work in a minute.

We want the pain, the doubt, the waiting to end right now, but we want to make the hard choices tomorrow.

Why not today?

Why not pray that prayer today?

Why not take that first step today?

Why not surrender that thing today?

Sure, there is always tomorrow, but then, sometimes there isn’t.

So how about today?