Be Still, God's Got This!

"The Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still."

Exodus 14:14

This verse appears around the middle of Exodus 14. The Israelites were terrified at the approaching Egyptians, and crying out to the Lord. They were complaining to Moses, who was leading them out of Egypt. They would rather have stayed in bondage and service to the Egyptians than risk dying in the desert trying to escape.

But Moses told them not to be afraid, that the Lord would deliver them. He told them that the Egyptians they see today they will never see again. "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

You know the rest, the parting of the sea so the Israelites could pass through, then the closing of the path through the sea so the advancing Egyptians were engulfed, and the Israelites were saved. The Israelites did not have to fight. They just needed to be still, to trust in the Lord to fight for them.

As I dug deeper into this story, I began to think about my personal 'Egyptians.' What am I a slave to? The areas in my life where I cry out to God and complain. The fears, doubts, issues, and times when I am afraid to take the steps God is asking me to take, and so remain hopelessly in bondage.

'Be still,' God says. Still: unruffled, calm, not moving, deep silence, fixed, stable, at rest, untroubled, tranquil.

He will fight for me, he says. Fight: battle, go to war, deliverance, put to right what is unjust.

And my favorite promise from this study; "The Egyptians you see today you will never see again." That tells me that when God fights for us, he breaks the chains that hold us bound, and leads us through our fears. We need only to be still.

I purpose today to give God my battles and let him fight for me. I will rest in his grace and take comfort in his love for me.

I have created a Bible journaling page for this verse....