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EXODUS 14:14 “THE LORD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU; YOU NEED ONLY BE STILL.” (NIV, RSV)
“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (KJV, NKJV)
“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” (NASB)
“The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t need to lift a finger!” (TLB)
Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God…”
It might sound a little weird. But, please take a few minutes and go to this link and do nothing but listen to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvfo1r2ClwoAyDr9-Mpc_s
I am not one for following most “relaxing techniques,” but take a couple of minutes, take a couple of deep breaths and wait on the Lord to speak to your heart. Be still…for just a minute…and concentrate on the knowledge that you know God. Wait for it… You really can take a few minutes to do NOTHING but wait for the Lord.
If you are like me, the only fights you can identify with are the ones you have fought in your own life. “So much to do, so little time to do it all.” “The kids are driving me nuts!” “I have so many tasks on my list, I will never get them done.” “Everything in life is attacking me right now.”
I’m really not trying to stir you up right now. I’m trying to quiet you down. Right before I started writing this chapter, I literally wrote down the fourteen things I needed to do next. That exercise did absolutely nothing to quiet my heart.
The children of Israel had just followed Moses out of Egypt with the promise of a deliverance to the Promised Land. Now, a million of them stood at the Pi Hahiroth (look it up on Google), next to the sea. You know the story. Re-read Exodus 14. The sea before them, Pharoh behind them, and their response to Moses was that it would have been better to die in Egypt than to die here.
In the midst of what looked like certain death, it was Moses who told them, “the Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” I bet they were anything but still, even while God opened up the sea for them and dried the land while they escaped Pharoh. I can’t imagine being still while a million of us crossed the sea with standing water, literally held back by God’s hand, was on both sides of us. Maybe not still, but I bet they were awestruck beyond words when the sea walls collapsed on the Egyptians after their crossing, eliminating the fight forever.
The first part of this verse we are memorizing today: “The Lord will fight for you…” He did not say this, Moses did. Moses knew. The Israelites did not. None of this, however, changed the fact that on that day, the Lord would fight for them and defeat the enemy.
Oh my, how many times is the Lord ready to fight our battles for us and we just push Him aside (metaphorically, of course) and say, “Lord, I trust you but let me handle this.” More often than not, we believe in Him, but we fight the battles because it is all we know to do. Our faith goes to believing on Him, but not to waiting and watching Him to take care of it. (Silence)
Silence comes to me now because of the conviction of that truth. Whether we count on it or not, the Lord will fight for you! Whether we see it or not, whether we stand on its truth, the Lord stands ready to fight for you. What should I do? The rest of our verse answers that.
I need to “hold my peace.” (KJV) I need to be still (NIV). I need to keep silent (NASB). Do you ever notice that sometimes the reason I can’t hear the voice of the Lord is just because I won’t shut up? Is it true that more often than not, when I rush in and fight the fight on my own, it is totally wasted effort because the Lord is waiting to fight that battle for me…if I will just be still?
“Pharoh is right behind us…RUN!” "The devil is really fighting me right now…hit him back!” “The car is broke, my kids are screaming and my boss hates me…I just give up!” God is telling you, “I will fight for you.” Do you believe Him? What should you do in response? The Scripture is pretty clear. My part? Be still. Maybe try that and see how it comes out.
Questions to consider: Why? Why is it that our first recourse is to always get in there and fix it? Why do we think we can do a better job at fighting our battles than the Lord can? Are “being still” and “being quiet” the same things? Why, in our culture, is being still so remarkably foreign to us? Can you develop a discipline of stillness in your heart/life?
Other texts to study: Psalm 4:4 “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” Psalm 46:10 Psalm 84:4 “…they will be still praising thee.” Mark 4:39 “..he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Isaiah 30:15 “In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 40:31
 
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