Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” Exodus 14:14 (NLT)
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14 (NIV)
I was preparing these thoughts to share with you this morning when I realized I may be the one who needs the reminder most of all.
In the midst of preparations for a number of major projects all coming to bloom within a few weeks of each other, beginning with this weekend—I found myself worried, a bit tense, unsure, although wanting to believe that God will provide the resources, wisdom and energy which is needed to carry the day.
In all of his better moments, Moses knew that. No doubt many times before, he had silently pondered those words which he spoke that day and at that moment to the Israelites whom he had led with God’s hand of direction and provision, out of Egypt.
“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”
Never fully knowing what the result would be on any given day, Moses trusted the result would be what the Lord had in mind, and it would be a better result than if he had tried to engineer it all by himself. Reaching the end of his own wisdom, ability and expertise, Moses believed that the Lord would always continue to fight for him—and he needed to keep on moving in quiet trust of that eternal truth.
Moses understood in the midst of whatever he faced, that quitting was never an option—he had to move on. He had to follow the Lord’s leading, as he led the Israelites through the desert. But then they reached the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s mighty army of Egyptians nipping at their heels. With nowhere to go, the Israelites did what they usually did in similar circumstances—they began to cry out in defeat and terror—wishing they had died in Egypt before their exodus, wanting to return to captivity in Egypt rather than to die where they were in the desert. They worried, they whined and they wailed. I know I can identify.
And Moses answered their worry, whining and wailing by telling them to be quiet (or some similar and maybe stronger admonition) and to not be afraid, because…
“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
And then, as God directed him to do, he stretched out his hand and staff over the sea—and the waters of the Red Sea divided and the Israelites went through on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and a wall of water on their left.
I wonder if any of you find yourself standing on the shore of a Rea Sea with the rest of the world, and all its concerns, closing in from behind and seemingly all around you. I wonder if you find yourself facing some seemingly insurmountable obstacle and challenge, and—realizing you have come to the end of your own wisdom, ability and expertise—you find that you can’t deal with it alone.
Perhaps you’re facing a medical procedure you didn’t anticipate, or the last days of a long illness of a loved-one, the end of a job, or a relationship that has never been what it should be no matter how hard you have tried. Maybe you’ve experienced the disappointment of a “friend” you thought you could trust, or you’ve had a setback and are now uncertain about where you are on what seemed to be a dream career path, or perhaps you’re beginning to believe that all the fluctuations in the economy will be never-ending.
Perhaps you feel that even though the ground seems firm and dry beneath you, you had better not take your eyes off those walls of water on the right and on the left—looking ominously as though they will surely give way at any moment.
I wonder if any of you are going through any of that, or worse. Maybe not today. That’s good. But whether or not you are at this particular moment, history seems to demonstrate that at some time or another we all will find ourselves on the shores of our own Red Sea—facing an obstacle we won’t know how to get around, over or through, while surrounded by a world closing in fast around and behind us.
In those moments, I pray that we will remember that through it all the Lord your God is with you and with me. I pray that we will also remember—as Moses knew—that the Lord will continue to fight for you and for me—we just need to trust and be calm.
It’s just one of many promises of the God who loves you and me.
Believe it.
Embrace it.
Claim it as your own.
Just something for each of us to remember for all of our todays, tomorrows, and everyday throughout eternity.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2012. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
