Exodus 14:14

‘“Yahweh will fight for you,
and you shall be still.”’
(Exodus 14:14)

God is ‘“Almighty”’(Exodus 6:3), in control, and has a plan. Confidence in these truths is what lies behind Moses’ words here, spoken to reassure his fellow Israelites when things looked bad for them and they couldn’t see a way forward.

Things had been looking quite promising. After over ‘four’(Exodus 12:40) hundred years as slaves in Egypt, God had mercifully ‘“heard their cry”’(Exodus 3:7ff.). A series of spectacular miraculous ‘“‘judgements’”’(Exodus 6:6) against the Egyptians had led their Pharoah to declare: ‘“get out from among my people… and go, serve Yahweh”’(Exodus 12:31) – the ‘“‘name’”’(Exodus 3:13ff.) for God that He’d newly revealed to Moses shortly beforehand, derived from the word for ‘“‘I AM’”’(Exodus 3:14). So the Israelites left Egypt, visibly guided by Yahweh, who ‘went before them by day in a pillar of cloud… and by night in a pillar of fire’(Exodus 13:21).

Obviously, therefore, they ‘went out’(Exodus 14:8) brimming with confidence. However, Pharoah then ‘changed’(Exodus 14:5ff.) his mind, and ‘pursued’(Exodus 14:9) God’s people, ‘marching after them’(Exodus 14:10) until they became trapped against the Red Sea. At that point they ‘cried out’(Exodus 14:10ff.) to God in despair, seemingly having lost their initial confidence.

Moses, however, hadn’t lost his, hence the reassuring words he speaks to them here: ‘“Don’t be afraid. Stand still… see the salvation of Yahweh, which He will work for you… Yahweh will fight for you, and you shall be still”’(Exodus 14:13-14).

Moses understood that God remained Almighty, is always in control, and would have a plan. The preceding events leading up to this point should have made that obvious anyway, but in addition God had warned Moses that they would appear ‘“‘shut… in’”’(Exodus 14:3) like this, yet somehow ‘“the Egyptians”’(Exodus 14:4) would learn, once again, who’s really in charge. Moreover, the wider unfolding story should have given the whole Israelite community the confidence that Moses displays here, from the initial promise to their ancestor Abraham ‘“four hundred years”’(Genesis 15:13ff., cf. 12:1-3) earlier, through Joseph’s experience of ‘“good”’(Genesis 50:20ff., cf. Exodus 13:19) emerging from a ‘pit’(Genesis 37:24) and other setbacks, to further promises yet to be fulfilled through them – even us, over all ‘“the earth”’(Genesis 12:3)!

We can learn several things from this, aside from the fact that God is Almighty, in control, and has a plan, including for us His people now.

The first is that apparent dire straits are often part of the unfolding story, true even of His own role in the plot, as ‘“the Son of Man… delivered… into the hands of sinful men and… crucified…”’(Luke 24:7)! So we might face such ‘“trouble”’(John 16:33) too, things like ‘afflictions… hardships’(2 Corinthians 6:4ff.), ‘prison’(2 Corinthians 11:23ff.), ‘persecution… famine’(Romans 8:35ff.) and more, all as part of the plan – that we ‘be conformed to the image of His Son’(Romans 8:29).

Here the people ‘cried out to Yahweh’(Exodus 14:10). In a sense that’s the right thing to do, if it springs from a sense of utter dependence on Him, in faith, trusting in His will, like Jesus’, who ‘severely troubled… prayed… “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire”’(Matthew 26:37-39, cf. Hebrews 5:7-8). However, here the cries sound more like ‘complaining’(Philippians 2:14, cf. Exodus 14:11-12&15), which is to be avoided.

A key thing to reassure and ‘“still”’ our minds is grasping the amazing truth that this Almighty Yahweh is with us, in our case not as a pillar of fire or cloud like in Old Testament times, but in ‘“another”’(John 14:16ff.) form, ‘“always, even to the end of the age”’(Matthew 28:20). Through this we can find ‘“peace”’(John 14:27, cf. Galatians 5:22), even growth, in the midst of ‘testing’(James 1:3ff., cf. Romans 5:3-5) circumstances, confident in the knowledge that ultimately nothing can ‘separate us from God’s love’(Romans 8:39) and plan.

Then we’ll possess a calm confidence similar to Old Testament saints like Moses here, and learn with Isaiah that in ‘“quietness and… confidence”’(Isaiah 30:15) is our strength, finding ‘“perfect peace”’(Isaiah 26:3) in the knowledge that we’re upheld by the ‘“mighty”’(Deuteronomy 26:8) ‘“right hand”’(Isaiah 41:10 & Exodus 15:12ff.) of God. If we pray through our ‘worries’(1 Peter 5:7) and concerns in such a frame, ‘the peace of God’(Philippians 4:7) will carry us beyond all questioning and despair.

However, although we’re to still our minds, even stand still, prayerfully waiting on God, as we contemplate the way through our Red ‘Sea’(Exodus 14:21) and Jordans beyond, we must then move ‘“forward”’(Exodus 14:15). We’re to ‘“stretch out”’(Exodus 14:16) in whatever way God directs, following His ‘paths’(Proverbs 3:6), confident in our ultimate safe passage into ‘His heavenly Kingdom’(2 Timothy 4:18).

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