Be Still...

The book of Exodus has proven to be quite the inspiration for writing as of late. Who knew??

The funny thing about writing for me is once something hits me, I need to get it out or it is GONE! That happened with my last Exodus inspiration. I was partially done writing, got distracted and now I can't seem to revive it. Moving on...

The book of Exodus is essentially a tug of war between Moses and Pharaoh. Moses, following God's lead, repeatedly tries to convince Pharaoh to let his people go, to free them from slavery. God sends plague after plague but also hardens Pharaoh's heart so he continually refuses to let the Israelites go.

After many plagues and much convincing, Pharaoh finally agrees to set the Israelites free but this doesn't last. Pharaoh changes his mind, realizing he lost free labor, and begins to again pursue the Israelites. Of course this doesn't go well for the Egyptians because God is fighting for the Israelites. It was this proclamation from the Egyptians that inspired this piece: "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt." (Exodus 14:25, NIV)

Wow! What if this was true for us? What if this was true for me? What would it look like to live our lives in such a way that others knew this about us? What if we fought our battles so closely aligned with our Lord that others knew. They knew that He was fighting for us, that we were seeking Him, and at the very least it gave them pause.

Scripture tells us many times that He is fighting for us, but do we claim this partner in battle or do we go at it alone? Battles can be lonely. Here we have a willing and quite capable partner offering to fight for us. Why would we turn this down?

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." -Exodus 14:14 (NIV)

"Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you." -Deuteronomy 3:22 (NIV)

"For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." -Deuteronomy 20:4 (NIV)

My first reaction, when faced with a challenge, is to do just that...REACT! When fighting alone fails me, that is when I decide to seek the Lord and His guidance. It's never too late to do this but how much effort is wasted by not choosing alignment with the Lord as my very first move. How much damage am I doing, reacting out of my flesh, rather than seeking the All Knowing?

Exodus 14:14 calls us to do what seems impossible, BE STILL. When faced with a battle, this is the last thing I want to do! In scripture, "to be still" means to stop striving, stop fighting, surrender control to God. Our instincts are to do the opposite. We want to defend, fight, protect. We want to talk about it with others. We want them to make us feel better, make us feel right! We want to MOVE..not be still!

To surrender may feel like defeat but we aren't surrendering to just anyone. We are surrendering to our Lord; the Lord who knows all!

I think it also matters how we fight. Spewing venom, trying to be right, having the last word, gathering our troops, these are all counterproductive to the fight. Scripture tells us to do the opposite, be still.

Being still could mean staying silent, doing and saying nothing in the moment, while simultaneously seeking the Lord and His wisdom.

Silence is sometimes necessary to diffuse the battle. It's hard to use silence against you later! Words prove the opposite; they can be twisted, misused, misrepresented.

Are you currently in a battle? Do you feel like you have an enemy? What if in this battle you choose to be still? What if you choose to be silent and let the LORD speak for you?

How we navigate the inevitable battles of life can determine the outcomes.

Partnering with the Lord in battles doesn't guarantee that we are always right, it doesn't guarantee things will go our way. It does; however, guarantee things will go the best way, His way!

The next time you find yourself in a struggle, choose to be still and partner with the Lord in battle! He's ready and waiting to go with you!

Until next time...