As I continue on my goal to read the entire bible this year, I was captivated by the story of Moses this week. If you have never read the story of Moses, I highly encourage you to! While I will briefly paraphrase the events that take place in Exodus, Chapters 1 through 15, you would be much more informed to read the actual account from the bible.
The story begins with God's chosen people, the Israelites, living as slaves to the Egyptians. Though they are slaves, God is blessing them. Their families are growing in number and the Pharaoh of Egypt fears the Israelites will become too powerful and overthrow their masters. So he decrees that all baby boys must be thrown into the river at birth. One brave momma hides her baby boy for three months. Finally, knowing she can hide him no longer, she makes a floating basket to place her baby boy into and places it in the river. She instructs her daughter to keep watch and see what becomes of her baby brother. The baby is discovered by Pharaoh's daughter. She feels sorry for the baby and saves him. She names him Moses, and he is raised as an adopted prince of Egypt.
Fast forward a couple of chapters and a young Moses (who has fled from Egypt) tending his flock of sheep in a remote field. He notices a bush that is on fire but does not burn. He goes to take a look and is greeted by the audible voice of God. Can you even imagine?
God instructs Moses to return to Egypt and lead His people out of slavery. Moses gives God several excuses as to why he is a poor choice (I have never done that... or so I wish!). But God is relentless.
So Moses returns to Egypt and asks the Pharaoh to let God's people go. The answer is NO! God sends many plagues as a way to convince Pharaoh to let His people go. First, He turns all the water into blood. Then the land was overcome with frogs, next came gnats, then flies. When Pharaoh continued to refuse to let the Israelites go God killed all their livestock. A plague of boils came next, then hail, then locusts, then darkness. To make it even more evident that these plagues were of God, they only affected the Egyptians. When darkness fell (for example) there was absolutely NO light in the Egyptian area but the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. Because Pharaoh continued to hold onto God's people, God sent a terrible plague. Every firstborn son died... all on the very same night. When Pharaoh woke to this disaster he let the people go.
The Israelites packed quickly and left. However before too long Pharaoh changed his mind. He sent all of his army after the Israelites. Imagine the terror the Israelites felt as they heard the thundering chariots of Pharaoh's army closing in behind them. Their fear only became worse when they realized that ahead of them was a large sea. They were trapped. They would be sent back to slavery. There was no victory. Their God had failed them.
At this very point of desperation and disappointment God spoke these words through Moses, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see here today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still" Exodus 14:13-14
God did an amazing thing next. He parted the sea in front of the Israelites and they walked through it! The Egyptians pursued. When the last of the Israelites was on the other side of the sea, God closed the path - drowning all of Pharaoh's army.
Victory!
It is an amazing, exciting, adventurous story. (Much more so if you read all of it than my paraphrase.) I wanted to paraphrase it though so I could reflect on the verse in blue.
In the heat of the battle, when the going was beyond hopeless, God's instructions were to not be afraid, to stand firm and be still. God would do the fighting - and he did in an amazing way! Those instructions have echoed in my mind the last few days.
Do not be afraid!
Stand firm and you will see deliverance.
The Lord will fight for you, just be still!
So many lessons in those few words.
Don't be afraid - no freaking out allowed. No matter what!
Stand firm along with the promise of deliverance. How many times do I bend... just a little...to make things go more smoothly. How often does that bending become something I regret? Perhaps my bending deferred God's deliverance? Perhaps if I had stood firm just a little while longer the result would have been victory instead of defeat?
The Lord will fight for you - just BE STILL! Oh how tempting it is to run, to make decisions, to press on, to hide... But then WE are doing the fighting and we are just not as equipped for the battle as the Lord is. Be still, trust Him to do the fighting and the battle is won.
I most certainly DO NOT have this all figured out. I tend to stink at being still. That is why these words challenged me this week. That is why I am blogging about them. Perhaps in recording these instructions, I will remember them. Better yet, perhaps in recording these instructions I will follow them.
Here is a link to the Bible on-line. You scroll to the bottom of the page to click on the book - Exodus and then the chapters you would like to read. I can not imagine you would be sorry if you take the time to read (or reread) this story of deliverance.
Father God, thank you for Your word. Thank you for highlighting this lesson for me. Please help me to be fearless. Remind me to stand firm so that I will see You delivering me from the oppression of my problems. Hold me still so I may observe how You fight the battle and celebrate the glorious victory You will deliver. And widen my thoughts so that I may see the victory You provide even when it is a different victory than I expect.
