The Salvation of the Lord 2
Stand Still
Exodus 14:13 NKJV
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.”
Last week we
left the Israelites by the Red sea and God had told them three things: fear not, stand still, and watch what God
would do for them. Here we look at the
second part of that: “Stand Still!”
I cannot imagine
how many times I’ve violated that command in my life. I’m sure God would have an easier time
helping me if I’d stop getting in His way.
I try so hard to give Him the benefit of all my wisdom and let Him know
the best way to arrange things in my life.
If only I’d just stopped striving and let Him work things out for
me! But no! I have to jump in and fumble around until I
get tired of the mess I’ve made worse and then I remember to let God work in my
life and watch things resolve themselves.
(Can I get an Amen here?) I’m
surprised God hasn’t tattooed “Stand Still” backwards on my forehead so I’ll
see it every time I look in a mirror.
Paul writes in
his letter to the Ephesians that we have armor available and that the fight is
not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers. He ends this passage with the admonition to
do something. Jump in? No.
Grab hold and work it out for yourself?
No. He tells us that when we’ve
done all to stand, to Stand Therefore.
He does not expect us to take on the powers of evil by ourselves in our
own strength. Most of that spiritual
armor is defensive. He wants us to be
protected from attacks of the enemy. And
when we’ve donned our armor and taken up our sword then he tells us to stand. I submit this is same as the command Moses gave
the Israelites. Moses said Stand Still
and Paul said when you’ve done all to stand, Stand Therefore. (Capitalization for emphasis is mine.)
Along with Stand
Still comes the implied Keep Your Hands Off.
God calls us to be witnesses of Christ and to pray for the sick and to
set free those bound by oppression. But
He wants us to rely on His power and His authority. If we come under attack, we are to fall back
into His hand and let His strength fight the fight. John the Baptist put it so well, “He (Christ)
must increase and I must decrease.”
My reaction is
to wade into the fight and get myself banged up and hurt before retreating into
His hand for safety. 2 Corinthians 9
tells us that His grace is sufficient for us.
Sufficient means “more than enough to meet needs or bring about a
proposed end. He is known by many names
and one is El Shaddai, El is God and Shaddai is Almighty. God Almighty is not only sufficient for us - He
is more than enough for us.
Not only do we
read that His grace is sufficient for us, we see that His strength is made
perfect in our weakness. I will climb
out on the limb here and say that the more we are unable to defend ourselves
the safer we are. God will move on our
behalf in our most dire times of need.
He not only works in unseen ways to meet our desperate needs but He has
been known to perform miracles on behalf of His children.
The secret to a
long and blessed life is to bow and kneel at the foot of the cross and stay
there. Staying in a state of worship and
prayer is the best advice I can give you when you are being attacked and
tested.
And I’m
preaching to myself here as much as anyone.
I need to bow my stiff neck more and keep it bowed. I need to bend my unwilling knees and keep
them bent. When I learn to stand still
when I’m supposed to stand still I can watch God move in my life.
Stephen Cram February
9, 2014
Daniel 1:8
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he
drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not
defile himself.
Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.
Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel
TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv
.
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King
James Version of the Bible.
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