Renege

I can remember that when I was growing up in the student ministry "Spades" was the game of choice. We would get together and play for hours. It quickly became a part of all of the fellowships that we had as a student ministry. Occasionally, there would be times when people would "renege" and go back on what they had played earlier. We would call it out and get on that person for doing such a terrible thing. Of course, I never did that (cough, cough).

As I was reading in Exodus 8 about the plague of frogs sent on Egypt for failure to release the Hebrew people from slavery to worship God, I came across something that stood out to me.

"But when Pharaoh saw that the frogs were gone, he hardened his heart. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had predicted."
Exodus 8:15 NLT

Now just a day earlier, Pharaoh had said that he would release the Hebrews if Moses would make the frogs go away. He went back on his commitment when things got better.

How many times do we do this with the LORD. We may be in a tight spot or things may be going downhill quickly, and we cry out for deliverance promising that we'll do this or that. Maybe we feel the call of God on some part of our life and tell God that we will obey if we can get through something. Then the LORD helps us through, and we have sudden amnesia.

God has called us as His children to be people of our word. When we tell people that we're going to do something, we need to do it. We reflect, and often paint a picture of, God to those we have contact with. God has always kept His word, and as His representatives in this world, we need to also.