And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14: 13, 14, NKJV
Truly Lord, the entrance of Your Word brings us hope. May we be blessed as we study this day; for Christ’s sake. Amen
Today we continue with the theme of “allowing God to save us.” Our promise comes to us from the story of the Exodus. God had just freed His people from Egyptian bondage. Four generations had been born in slavery. This is all the life they had ever known, good or bad. But God had been watching from above. When the cry of His people ascended to His throne God “came down” to see for Himself what was happening. Does that mean that God could not see from where He was? No, it means that God does not look at His people’s suffering from afar; He draws near (Exodus 3: 7, 8), He enters into it.
Moses and Aaron met with the Israelites before going to see Pharaoh. They assured them that the Lord had seen their affliction and had sent them to tell Pharaoh to let them go. When the people heard that God had not only heard their cry but was doing something about it they “bowed down and worshiped” (4: 31). Then God sent His servant Moses to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with the message, ‘Let My people go…’ (5: 1).
We know the rest of the story. Pharaoh has been warned, but continues to deal with God as he would with an equal. God sends ten horrific plagues upon the land of Egypt, each one worse than the one before. Finally, when the last plague, claims the first born of both man and beast, in every house where the blood had not been applied, in extreme anguish, Pharaoh begs Moses and Aaron to leave the land of Egypt with the Israelites and all their belongings.
Soon after, however, Pharaoh and his army decide that they have nothing else to lose; so they go after the Israelites to carry them back to a life of slavery. When the Israelites see Pharoah coming after them, their natural reaction is, “…it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (14: 12). Had they not bowed and worshiped God when the message of liberation had come to them? What is the problem? You see, my friends, when all you have ever known is slavery, being set free can seem “too difficult.” “Leave us in our comfort zone. At least we know how to make bricks. We don’t have any energy to try to adapt to a new way of life. Just leave us alone, and let us die in the desert of our sin.”
It is at these times that we are to “…Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord…For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Just when you believe that all is lost, God is about to bare His arm and save you. Not just for today, but forever! Our resolutions to save ourselves may last for a while, and oftentimes we leave Egypt, but Egypt still has a hold on us. But if God saves us, He will rid us of both Egypt and the Egyptians in our lives, forever! The lesson we need to learn is to “stand still,” and let God save us.