Watch God Fight

April 26

Read: Exodus 14

Watch God Fight

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today…The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (v.13,14)

Be still and watch God fight for you. Sounds easy enough, right? The truth is that it's tremendously HARD. Those things which seek to destroy us… that used to enslave us… they do not give up easily or without a fight. The enemy will send an army after us. You might just find yourself backed into a proverbial corner… the army marching towards you and a raging sea at your back.

It is at this point that we are tempted to throw in the towel and give up. Why is it that our first blush response is despair and a tendency to go back? The people of God say as much to Moses: “Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (v. 12) Despite having watched God fight for them powerfully again and again back in Egypt, in the heat of the moment they forget and default back to thinking in terms of defeat and death.

Defeat and death are the themes of the Devil. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (v.10) When we think in these terms we are thinking like the deceiver. It is in these desperate moments that stillness and the wilderness become our friends… and the stage for us to sit back and watch God fight for us! So often if our response if not defeat and despair, it is scrambling by our own strength to try and do something. Being still and watching doesn’t make sense to us because we simply do not believe God is doing anything.

This is not always God’s battle plan. We can look at the stories of Joshua and the city of Jericho, or Gideon and his brave 300, and see that there is place for God-directed action. But I feel safe saying that more often than not, it is God doing the fighting for us that leads to victory. It is also worth noting that even those examples of action started with a stillness before the Lord and a listening to HIM and a “watching” of what God was doing.

Maybe, in the end, surrender is the best plan… but it is a surrender to the Lord not the enemy! There is something freeing and comforting that takes place when you quiet yourself (“be still”), quit complaining, and sit back and watch… trusting God is fighting for you. This is when you get to experience the figurative “red sea” part. When you have your back up against the wall, and all that seems to lie ahead of you is the chaos of the raging waters, you get to experience God parting the sea! “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today…The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

I don’t know what battles each of you are in right now. I do know that the temptation to give up and throw in the towel is STRONG. I also know the sins that enslave will not hand us over without a fight. I can only imagine the situations that you all are experiencing… you feel desperate and afraid. Listen to the voice of God as he speaks to you. If you have “tried everything” in your own strength maybe the next step is to “be still” and hand it over to the Lord and watch him work a little. The Lord IS WORKING…. he is working your SALVATION out right in front of you! Find sometime today to put your back up against a wall. Close your eyes and tell the Lord what you feel… what it is that you feel is bearing down on you. What are you running from? Tell him what feels just as real as that wall you are up against. Then be still and LISTEN. Pay attention to what The Spirit says. Trust that the Lord will fight for you. Jesus fought death for you already… surely he can fight whatever else threatens you now. Love you guys. - JDP