The Lord will fight for you...

 

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”

Exodus 14:14

 

The scene here is the end of the Israelite time of slavery in Egypt.  Moses went to Egypt to
ask Pharoah to let the Israelites go.  He said no.  God sent a sign, a plague of blood, all the waters in Egypt turned to blood.  Moses again asked Pharoah, Pharoah again said no.  So God sent more plagues – frogs, gnats, flies, all the livestock in Egypt died, people broke out in boils, hail destroyed crops, locusts ate what was left, the land turned dark for three days, and after each plague, Moses asked Pharoah, Pharoah said no.  Finally the last plague was the death of the firstborn, every firstborn son in Egypt died, and Pharoah finally said go.

But we saw in Exodus 14:5, “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled [the Israelite people – the Egyptian slaves], Pharoah and his officials changed their minds about them and said, ‘What have we done?  We have let the Israelites go and have lost their service.’”

So Pharoah pursued them, we heard the numbers of chariots, all of Pharoah’s army was in pursuit of the Israelites.  And the Israelites were camped out along the Red Sea, seemingly trapped when the army was approaching.  If we kept reading we would have seen the miraculous deliverance, the parting of the sea, the Israelites crossing on dry ground, the Egyptian pursuit, the sea closing in again, destroying the Egyptian army.

But I want us to see tonight, is the last verse that I shared.  This was part of the reading for last night’s Prayer for Healing service, and it really stuck with me.  The last verse read, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”

We saw how anxious the Israelites were.  They were arguing with Moses, if you just left us alone in Egypt it would have been better.  We would much rather be slaves then die in the desert.  They were fearful, scared, sure they were going to die.  And Moses said, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”  And the Lord did.  And the Israelites were saved.

I want to point that out because in our own lives we have plenty to be anxious about.  There are things that don’t look so good, we don’t know how they might play out.  Health scares.  Finances, the stock market drops lower every day.  Inflation – the government says it’s 7 ½ %, but our chicken for our chicken BBQ is up 25%, gas, while coming down now, has doubled, up 100%.  Groceries are more expensive every week.  A whole lot more than 7 ½ % overall.

It can seem like we’re fighting just to hold our own.  But remember what Moses said, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”  Trust in God, turn everything over to Him, and be still.