The Lord Will Fight For You
Ever felt stuck? Like you were between a rock and a hard place? That you were in a predicament where there seemed to be no way out? What was your response? What did you do?
Following the first Passover and the final plague, the death of the firstborn, the Israelites were released by Pharaoh and allowed to leave Egypt. They were no longer slaves. But as they were on the move, Pharaoh changed his mind and came after the Israelites until they were trapped, with a large body of water ahead of them (the Red Sea), and the Egyptian army barreling down behind them. No where to run to, no where to hide (as the popular 1960’s song declares). What would you have done? They cried out, and complained that they should never have left Egypt in the first place, this was all a big mistake (a trademark behavior for them). They were trapped, and Moses said to them, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still ( Exodus 14:13-14).” Of course, what else could they do? But through Moses, God was reminding them not to freak out and panic but to trust Him to deliver them.
When we go through difficult challenges, when our back is to the wall, we have a tendency either to freak out like the Israelites, because we cannot see any way out of this, which reveals our lack of faith in God. Or we respond in pride and double down, and try harder to get ourselves out of this mess without seeking God, or if we do seek God, it is only in a superficial way. We may pray and ask for God’s help, but our actions demonstrate something other than faith. Since it is our situation to get out of, we just try harder, but our own efforts just make things worse. Perhaps God is saying, “do not freak out, take courage and be still, come to me in prayer, bring the situation to me, and trust me to fight for you, to deliver you from this, to work it for good because you love me and you are called according to my purposes (Rom. 8:28). To which we respond, “I can’t just do nothing,” or “doesn’t God help those who help themselves (not in the Bible?” This isn’t an abdication of our responsibility or doing nothing (which is hard for a doer), it is praying and trusting God to fight for me. God is more than capable of providing a way out, and taking care of it on his own. And when God succeeds the victory is God’s, and God will receive the praise and glory for the deliverance rather than us and our quick thinking or trying hard. The parting of the Red Sea and the Israelites walking through on dry ground is still one of the most dramatic miracles in the Bible. God was faithful and delivered his people. They did nothing but trust God. Do you believe by faith that God will deliver you if you trust him?