It just feels like the right time for me to write a blog post. I hope this post encourages you. I have been dwelling on a Bible verse for weeks now. I have just been thinking about it almost daily and yet I didn't really understand why. Today I studied it more and truly sought wisdom and understanding. The verse is Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Now before I go into what God has been revealing to me through that verse I want to get a little personal. Lately, I have been battling with sin and honestly I have been trying to do it all on my own. Sprititually, I don't think I am in a low point, but there are certain things that I just have not been giving to Him. Last night, I came home from a great night with friends. I laid outside with my dog on my picnic table and I just got lost looking at the stars. It was incredible. The sky was so clear and the stars looked amazing. I was thinking to myself, How can I try to act like God is not there? Like, I'll just block Him out for awhile. That is crazy. He is OMNIPRESENT. Later last night I felt horribly convicted to pray for a friend of mine who was struggling. While praying, God was also convicting me of my own sin. I felt a lot of growth, but it was painful. He made me realize that I have a lot to work on myself.
So back to that verse. As for context, this is Moses speaking. This is right before the Red Sea is about to be parted, but the Israelites don't know that. All they know is Pharaoh's army is on their tail and they look like dead meat. Here comes the murmuring and complaining. They were upset with Moses because they didn't have faith that God would get them out this time. The first part of Moses' response was in verse 13, but in 14 he says "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." This is the NIV translation. In other translations it says "Be calm", "Be Silent", and "ye shall hold your peace".
This verse is all about trust. Now I don't know what it is like to be these people who see an army coming to destroy them from behind and a great body of water in front of them, which appears to be a sure dead end. I think there are still points to take from this though. My personal favorite translation was "Be silent". These Israelites were murmuring, gossiping and complaining a lot. Now, I see myself much like these Israelites, I sit here complaining. When life isn't going my way I start to grumble, but in that moment I lack trust. I need to shut up and let God fight for me. I think God is saying "Let me handle this", but we are like stubborn little kids first learning to tie our shoes. And if anyone tries to help we say "No! I got this", when all we can do is tie a bunch of knots that we can't even un-knot by ourselves and we end up creating an even bigger mess. The truth is we NEED God. God is willing to fight for us. He will protect us. Sometimes, I want to show everyone how tough I am, but God wants us to show our weaknesses! He is stregthened in our weakness!
Last night while praying, I wanted to lead the way in all these battles. I wanted to fight for my friend. God reminded me that I alone can't. I must surrender myself to Him. I must be silent and trust.
Thank you LORD!
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