Today we finish a brief study of Exodus 14 related to Israel crossing the Red Sea.
Two of the key verses in this chapter are verses 13-14. The text says, “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.’”
Now, the Lord fighting for us is bigger than we often think. Here is what I mean… Sometimes we think: “Oh, I’m very ill, the Lord will fight for me.” Or, “I’m going through this particular struggle, but I know that God is with me.” I’m not denying that, but the Lord’s fighting for us (and for His church) has particular relevance (especially) to Him fighting in accord with His eternal plan to save us and to save the lost of this world! That’s what we are seeing here in Exodus. And the Israelites are worried about this fickle hard-hearted man. We worry about so much less!
Here is an eternal truth that we need to make certain we have our sights set on. God is fighting, as we see in Scripture, not so much on an individual, physical, temporal basis, as He is for the eternal souls of mankind. One of the problems that Israel suffered from, and caused their grumblings, is that they had the same tendency we have. The tendency to make it all about them and their outward circumstances. It is a very short-sighted, shallow, physical, and temporal perspective.
Now, in contrast with that, let’s consider the plea of Moses in verse 13 again: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.” Now this has special relevance to the particular event that was going to occur, but yet there is tremendous application in these wise words.
“Fear not.” Fear not who? Fear not Pharaoh who is seeking to not only stop Israel from fleeing from Egypt, but really, to hinder God’s plan, His scheme to redeem mankind. His plan cannot be stopped. Our Lord established a kingdom that will never be destroyed (see Dan. 2:44). We just keep ourselves faithful to our King. God can take it from there!
Instead of fearing forces that oppose God’s plan, we “stand firm” with our God, trusting anything and everything He has said. We trust His plan. We trust His promises. Often times the fear of man stands in stark contrast to faith in God. It’s not that all fear is a spiritual problem, but when fear causes us to not trust God, seen in giving up, and and in compromising the Word of God, then there is a real problem. Fear and anxiety in the church can cause us to actually oppose God and oppose His revealed will. Our Lord instructed us in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Do you know what this simply means? Listen to God, trust and obey what He has said, and it will be ok!
We know from the OT and the NT that God’s plans succeed. His plan always leads to victory. Often it is not according to our time-frame. Just ask Abraham and Sarah. And would you have waited 4000 years or so to bring the Savior into the world if it was up to you? His ways aren’t our ways (Is. 55:8-9). That’s why it is so essential to trust Him. Trust His will. He has this. And remember that the “this” we are referring to is beyond our daily desires and difficulties. I’m not saying at all that God does not care about them, but we do need to see a bigger picture or we end up having a very shallow, fearful, and even suffering faith.
If we learn anything here, and even to this point in the Scripture, it is that we have every reason to trust the Lord and no reason to fear and give up on God’s revealed plan. It is so easy to be faithless; and so frustrating as well!
Instead of fearing, instead of bickering, instead of changing God’s plan… how about we listen carefully to the plea of Moses: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Ex. 14:13).
Abraham (in Gen. 22) could have risen up in opposition to God’s absurd sounding plan, but he didn’t. He decided rather to trust in God. Abraham knew with all of his heart that if he stuck to God’s way and God’s plan it would work out! I would like to warn though… that doesn’t mean that our will will always happen. God wants something better!
This great chapter ends and is summed up in verses 30-31 with the text stating: “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
God truly is our deliverer, but for us to see that properly we need to make sure we see the big picture, and not just focus on our desires and our difficulties. It is easy to turn faith into something very self-centered and temporal. God wants something more for you and for all who are willing to come turn to Him. Trust and follow Him!
Daren Schroeder
