Exodus 14:14 | Be Still
Exodus 14:14 NIV says, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
This message came in the face of imminent danger from behind and an impossible obstacle ahead. The nation of Israel had left Egypt, but Pharaoh had changed his mind. Now at the edge of the Red Sea with hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and abilities, the Israelites were waiting for the Egyptian army to overtake them and capture them.
They asked, “Did God bring us all the way out here just to abandon us and bring us back into slavery?” They questioned the point of all the previous deliverance (you may remember the ten plagues of Egypt) if it got them back to where they started.
Moses, filled with faith, had his eyes set on what God was about to do. He called the people to put their hope in God and wait.
Common sense would say that they should at least get their sword in their hands. Maybe everyone should grab a stone or a stick. Perhaps we could put the children, elderly, and sick in the middle of the camp with the strongest on the outside. There certainly could have been a strategy to prepare for the worst. Yet Moses’ command was to be still.
This messes with everything in us that tells us to take action in the face of danger, yet this is what God was calling the people to do.
What followed was a miraculous story; even secular movies are made about it. Moses raised his staff, and God parted the waters while the Israelites walked through on the dry ground. No one could have envisioned that. Maybe someone joked that they could walk on water, but I doubt anyone knew that God would do that.
I wonder how God might be challenging your faith today. I don’t think God expected the Israelites to be calm about the situation. I bet their hearts were racing as they anticipated the next moments. But God called them to be still.
If we want to see God do the miraculous in our lives, we must still be long enough for him to fight our battles for us. Ask God today to show you where he is challenging your faith. Maybe you need to hear this message so you can posture yourself in waiting and watching. Could it be that God has a way forward that you could never have imagined? Maybe this moment will be so glorious and powerful that future generations will give God glory for what he has done through you.
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