The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14
The verse jumped out at me from the passage.
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
Really?
Be still?
But still is so hard! Everything about life says “try.” Try hard.
Work hard to have faith.
Believe hard to have peace.
Pray hard to have life.
But here, here in this precious book, it says be still.
Try is not the message in scripture. Easy is not the message either. But rest and be still? Yes, that is all over.
Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” Zachariah 2:13
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14
Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
In this place that jumped out to my eyes, I was reading of the Israelite people making their way out of Egypt. They were under attack, hemmed in by Pharaoh, trapped against the barrier of the red sea.
Understandably, they were worried.
What would I be feeling in their place? What would I feel I should do?
I’d want to run, or fight.
Probably more run than fight.
It’s called instinct. You know? The fight or flight instinct?
I would not want to be still.
Being still would be the last thing on my mind.
In the same way when life happens, when disaster strikes or not-so-nice people attack, when medical crisis happens, or problems crop up, or when I’m just having one of those days, the last thing on my mind is to be still.
This last thing, that should be a first thing.
The Bible is full of last and least things that are made into first things.
The Bible is full of wonderful, upside down world truths that, in reality, turn everything right-side up.
Because it is when we are still that we can turn our eyes to Him. It is when we are still that we can let go. It is when we are still that we can quiet our mind and finally listen.
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 King’s 19:11b-12
Lets face it, the world throws a lot of winds, earthquakes and fires at us. It’s easy to be overwhelmed, and if we are not still, if we are not paying attention, we won’t hear His whispers, we won’t see His hand.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
It is in being still that we see His greatness. It is in being still that we know He is God.
When we come to that place at the end of us and we look up and say, “I’m at an end, I have no more, I now realize that I could have never handled this myself. I step aside. My life is Yours. I surrender.”
When we surrender to God, we are not surrendering our strengths, because in Him even our strengths are weakness. When we surrender, we are letting go of our effort, of our very right to try to do it alone.
Life may be overwhelming, enemies may be at our door, but instead of fight or flight, instead of effort and work:
We stop.
We pause.
We are still.
And we turn to God and say, “Your call. What now?”
And it is here that the miraculous takes place.
Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh his chariots and his horsemen.” Exodus 14:16-18
If the Israelites had tried to run, Pharaoh would have picked them off, killing most and hauling the rest back to slavery. If the Israelites had tried to fight, Pharaoh would have, again, killed them.
But they were still, and God’s glory was known.
I don’t do “still” very well, unless I’m exhausted, burnt out, and usually following a nuclear blow out of sorts.
I can do “still” physically, but I’m horrible about being still in my mind. It’s constantly going a mile a minute! 🙂
Visiting from One Thing Link Party. I spend time each morning in prayer and study, but sitting quietly is still a discipline I’m “trying” to apply. I love your reminder that “trying” is not being still. So true!
Exactly! We can almost get lost in our efforts and then we are not being “still” at all!
I have been reading {or studying} Matthew Henry’s book on meekness and quietness of Spirit. It convicts me every time I open it’s covers. So much of developing this Spirit is spending quiet time with the Lord and learning from Him. Beautiful post!
So very true, thanks for commenting!
Great post. I had the opportunity to put “be still and know” into practice when I had to have an emergency surgery. I knew there was nothing for me to do, that it was definitively in God’s hands. I just thanked Him, and an overwhelming peace overcame me. It’s crazy to think that when we try to handle things in our own strength, we usually can’t. But when we release to Him, it’s always possible. We KNOW He’s so good…we just have to trust what we already know.
I had a similar experience in having a very difficult pregnancy, life threatening really if the doctors words were anything to go by. There wasn’t much I could do about the situation but trust God, and I really did. I just felt at peace, no matter what was going to happen. I couldn’t handle what was going on, but He had it in hand all along!
I love all the scripture you included here! I had a busy week last week, but I really tried to get myself to stop, even for just a few moments. I needed some God time to help get me through the chaos of it all. What I love about my relationship with Jesus is that it doesn’t have to be scheduled. I don’t need to call Him up to set a date and a time. He’s always here, always listening, loving, and encouraging.
Amen! Sometimes all life lets you do is let out a “God Help!” but in that moment, we are still turning things over to Him, and that is what counts.
I think it is a challenge for all of us to be still……I think human nature wants to be able to do and fix and suffice. Giving over that control and admitting that we aren’t capable of complete self-sufficiency is hard. I love the paradox of a mighty, all-powerful, magnificent God……that speaks in a whisper, and finds us in the quiet…..just beautiful! Thanks for sharing!!!
It is amazing isn’t it? It’s not that He can’t push through and demand our attention, but for the most part He doesn’t. He doesn’t want to demand our attention, He longs for us to offer it. None of us would find much happiness in a relationship where attention must always be demanded, we want freely offered attention. When we offer Him attention, we offer Him the gift of ourselves, and we are saying He is worth our focus, and He is abundantly worth our focus!
It is so hard to be still. Yet that is where I need to be, not so caught up in my busy-ness I can’t see or hear Him.
Thanks for posting.
visiting from #ffOneThing
Thanks for visiting! I know what you mean. It’s so difficult to stop during the rush of life and remember to listen!
Wow. I stink at still. I think I need to get better at it! Great post! Thanks for sharing!
You and me both! Well… I’m good at still physically, medical stuff saw to that a long time ago and I’m introverted enough not to mind the slow pace… but mentally? My brain never stops!
Beautiful. It is amazing how different God’s order is from our own. His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts. It is so wonderful how those “last” and “least” are made “firsts.” Thanks for the reminder.
Blessings!
I’ve love that about how He does things! It is almost a relief to understand that I don’t need to always understand! lol! Does that make sense?
Stopping by from the #ffOneThing link up 🙂 I struggle with being still yet I am desperate for God’s word. I get in my own that way,,, Thanks for reminding me that I need to work on this 🙂
I think we all get in our own way! We need to echo John the Baptist. He must become more, I must become less. 🙂
I really like what you said in one of your comments, that you are good at sitting still physically, but not necessarily mentally. That is convicting! I am able to sit still physically (to a degree!), but my mind isn’t sitting still and can’t hear God’s whispers! Visiting from the #ffonething link up!
Thanks! It’s so true for me also. My mind is so busy “solving” everything, so often I need it to just, well, shut up! lol!