Focus Passage: Exodus 14:14

‘Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.’

Have we ever been up against it, as they say? Have we found ourselves in such dire straits that by all appearances there is no hope whatever? Have we come to the end of our rope where we are certain that all is lost? Have we never found ourselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place? This was the desperation which was so deeply felt by the large multitude of Jews that had so recently been permitted to flee from Pharaoh and Egypt under the guidance of Moses. They had migrated from that place of bondage until they found themselves up against the Red Sea only to discover that Pharaoh had had second thoughts about allowing them to leave. This king of Egypt was pressing hard upon them having with him his entire army of horsemen and chariots. It is quite understandable that these recently released captives would be frightened to their wit’s end;

And the children of Israel cried out unto Jehovah. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt?

Whatever increase of faith the children of Israel had been granted through the many miracles that God had wrought under the hand—and rod—of Moses seems to have dissipated greatly at this point. They seem to have entirely forgotten all the plagues which their covenant God had brought upon Pharaoh and Egypt for their sake. So soon as there is a difficulty, or a roadblock in the way, they are ready to turn back, to return to bondage. This seems to have been imitated by those Hebrews to whom the epistle of that name was delivered, or declared. They also were of a mind to turn back. We can readily imagine Moses speaking words of a like nature as were written, or preached, by the author of Hebrews, when he said:

And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fullness of hope even to the end: that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

We must freely confess that we behave in the same manner as both these groups of people; those who were ready to ‘throw in the towel’ and go back. The response of Moses to the complaint of these murmurers is for us, as well as for them. We, too, are so ready to waiver when things become difficult. We, too, are ready to give up the fight when all seems to be against us; we forget our omnipotent, loving God. It takes so very little, it often seems, to bring us to a halt in our progress, even as the children of Israel came to a halt at the Red Sea. Instead of looking unto Jesus, our Champion, we fix our gaze only upon the Egyptians that are pursuing us. Let us, rather, embrace the counsel of Moses to his wavering folk;

Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

We are by nature (the Adamic nature) a very impatient people. We regularly insist on immediate satisfaction for a problem. We do not, as we should, embrace the prescription which has been offered to us by our Father when He said, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ We don’t know what it is to be still. We don’t know what it is to wait patiently for anything. We are the ‘fast food’ generation expecting an immediate response to our having ‘placed our order’ at the drive-through window. We don’t know how to ‘be still.’ We don’t know what it is to ‘wait upon God.’

Are we not all, many or most of us, guilty of this bodacious impatience? Are we not, in a sense, become spiritual snobs, expecting to be ushered immediately to the front of the line?

It is not difficult to recall one of the most popular ‘refrigerator magnets’ reflecting Romans 8:28, ‘All things work together for good to those that love God.’ Yet how few of us have taken the truth of that promise to heart? Yes, we expect that all things are working for our good because we believe that we love God, but how many of us are content to wait patiently for the promise of the Lord to be fulfilled to us? Do we not on almost every occasion, in almost every situation, accurately portray ourselves as the ‘I want it now’ generation?

Well would it be if we would remember the remainder of that beautiful passage when the apostle Paul, in continuing to remind us of our position in Christ, points us to the end of the matter, uttering these wonderful lines;

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not freely give us all things?

O Lord, increase our faith! Help us to know and to respond accordingly with that faith that is ‘assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.’ We must confess our tendency to, more often than not, hope in that which is seen with our physical eyes while we fail to appropriate the promises of God given us in His Word to be the resting place for our faith.

Perhaps the next time that we find ourselves trapped in an apparent corner, and up against the billows and storms of a Red Sea, rather than looking as did poor sinking Peter, at the winds and the waves, we might focus our eyes, minds, and hearts upon the One who can, and does, simply speak the Word and the billows and the waves become a calm. May our God help us to respond to seeming dilemmas or challenges in such a way; a way that will honor our Lord and Savior, confessing that it is He that rules over all mountains, hills, winds, and seas; and that He has loved us with an everlasting love that will never fail. Moreover, He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church