It's a Fight

In a devotion book I read by Max Lucado, the entry for September 4 spoke of what we do when we are in a pinch. How we respond when we find ourselves in a tight spot. You know how we chew our finger nails like corn on the cob or how we wear new paths in the carpet from the pacing or the countless hours of sleepless nights or the cases of antacids that we consume because of digestion issues. That is what we do when we find ourselves in the grind. What does God do?

From our perspective it looks like nothing. However, Lucado reminds us of the children of Israel in the wilderness facing the Egyptian army on one side and the Red Sea on the other. The people complain (go figure) saying they would have been better off staying in Egypt. Have you been there? When it gets hard you think or say out loud it would have been easier to stay where I was. Those devils I knew. We are just like those Israelites. Moses says this to the people.

¹³ But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.” Exodus 14:13-14 HCSB

The key here is the underlined text “The LORD will fight for you” What a concept. The LORD (God of the Angel Armies) will fight for me. My battles will become his as he is my champion. He fought for my salvation on the cross. In sharing this thought an individual took issue with the idea that God would fight all our battles. It was their opinion that God picks and chooses the battles he will fight on our behalf. I can see that perspective but I think it is based on a general misconception of ours.

The misconception seems to me, if someone is going to fight our battles for us then we believe we can sit ringside and watch the fray. No personal involvement in the action. No blood, guts or bruises it will be done for us Not by us. That would be great. God the magician Abra-ca-dabra, presto change-o it’s done and better. Here just take this pill and no heart attack or instant weight loss, eat whatever you want in any quantity you want and you will lose weight. That’s what we think. Reality is different than that. Here is the reality of the Lord fighting for Israel.

¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. ¹⁶ As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen. Exodus 14:15-17 HCSB

“You must be quiet” We can read that they were to be quiet because they had much to do. Sometimes we need to be quiet and wait. There I said it “wait” the ugliest four-letter-word in the English language. To wait is to be still, to trust, and to rest, to pray for God’s timing and prepare for our part in the process yet to come. What does God do? He gets busy for his children and invites us into the process for his Glory and our Good. There is a chorus of a song I used to sing a long time ago it went,

 “It’s not in trying but in trusting, it’s not in running but in resting, it’s not in wondering but in praying that we find the strength of the Lord.”

“The LORD will fight for you. You must be quiet” [and wait]

In HIS Service and Yours,

BroG