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.

The need for humility...

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
-Psalm 25:9

This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
-Isaiah 66:2b

Therefore, whoever humbles themselves like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
-Matthew 18:4

Do you get the idea that God values our humility? In fact, humility is a key trait for any follower of Jesus. We are studying Proverbs in our Bible Study, and this last week’s lesson really struck this point home.

As I was reflecting on this after the lesson, it occurred to me that humility is a choice. We are really a very proud people, a self-centered people. It’s very hard for us to be a humble people, it seems to run against our nature.

We need to put others in that center spot, we need to step aside and let others in. We need to become other-centered people.

It will require a great deal of self-discipline, it isn’t natural, at least not consistent with how we think. But to be truly honored by God, we must humble ourselves.

Another thought on humility, I once heard it said that humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it’s thinking of ourselves less…

Working to bring in a harvest...

It’s very late in the year to do much gardening here in Western New York, but my wife was working in the garden yesterday. We still have much that needs harvesting, and she pulled another box of tomatoes off vines (she’s already canned about 40 quarts, and a few quarts of spaghetti sauce), several winter squash, and some other assorted surprises.

One of the surprises were some potatoes. We’ve never grown potatoes before, and we probably should have pulled them out of the ground some time ago. At this point, the plants are all dead, and actually gone – the stems are broken off and rotted away and it’s very hard to know where to dig.

Sandy (my wife) was just digging around everywhere in the general area where she thought they might be, she has so far dug in about a six foot by ten foot area, turning the dirt about six inches deep, and if she finds any potatoes, she digs deeper there.

It’s kind of fun, because you never know where you’ll find them, and when you do find them, you never know how many you’ll find, or how big they will be. There are anywhere from two to ten potatoes in each hole, ranging in size from a good size for baking, to less than a half inch! Every hole is different; it’s like hunting for treasure.

While our approach to finding these potatoes might seem a little unorthodox (digging everywhere until you find one, then dig deeper there), that might be a good way to live our life of faith.

In Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby tells us the best way to live our life of faith is to look for where God is already working, and join him there.

In the garden, we looked fairly shallow for a potato, knowing that if we found one there, there may be more below, so that’s where we concentrated our efforts. If we truly want to be available to God, we should look for signs that he is working, and concentrate our efforts there.

As you go through your day today, look for signs of God at work. A couple of sure fire ways to know where God is working is to look for people asking about God, asking about things of faith. We know that no one comes to faith in Christ without being drawn by the Holy Spirit, so if someone is questioning or seeking, God must be working there, drawing that person to Himself. That would be a good place for you to work also. Look for blessings, answered prayers, and other signs that God is working. Join Him there, dig deeper than the quick hello, and concentrate your efforts there. The harvest will be plentiful.