“The LORD will fight for you; you have only to keep still.” – Exodus 14:14
I’m listening to / doing The Bible in a Year Podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz. As I listened to Day 35 I was struck by the message in Exodus 14:14. And at the end of the podcast Fr. Mike does call it out too.
But I heard those words and just thought about the beauty of the truth in it. It made me feel warm and snuggly thinking about the Lord fighting for me — how loved I am!
But in the next part of the sentence I thought about my reluctance to keep still. I often think I am the one who has to make things happen. I have to control the outcome in some way. I have to DO something. I can’t just BE.
Why is that? I pondered that. And what I realized is that it comes down to TRUST and a willingness to accept that God only wants what is best for me.
I’d say religiously I understand that God only wants what is best for me. But intellectually I fight it. “He can want the best for me, but to get the best for me I have to do something.”
But Exodus 14:14 is clear: My intellect is wrong. My thoughts are way off the mark.
“The LORD will fight for you; you have only to keep still.” – Exodus 14:14
“Keep still” :: Well that is easier said than done!
And if it’s something where it’s come to the point where the Lord will have to step in and fight for me? Well, then how much more am I tempted to fight for myself rather than just be still and patient!
This verse is a challenge to our wills vs God’s will. And a guide for how to “get” what it is we are seeking. We think “If I do X then I will get Y.” or “I’ll do B and have a better chance of getting C”. But God doesn’t say that.
What does God ask of us? Nothing other than to BE STILL.
If we are still we are trusting. We are turning whatever it is over to God. We stop thinking like we know best; that we know better than God. We stop acting as though it is our actions that can make the outcome we want the outcome we get. If we are still then instead of believing in ourselves we believe in God.
God wants our trust. He wants our faith in Him. He wants us to realize that we are His creation; we are subject to Him, not He to us. We realize this most fully and purely and perfectly if we can stop ourselves from thinking that we need to do anything more than what God asks of us.
God, when I am tempted to “do” and to try to control an outcome remind me that you don’t call me to that. Remind me of your perfect, infinite love and how you only want what is best for me. Remind me that I am not alone – that it is not up to me – that you will fight for me. Remind me to trust in you. Remind me that what you want from me is only to keep still. Help me to trust you; fully, completely. Help me to keep still. Amen.
“Be still and know that I am God!” – Psalm 46:11
Give God Your Yes 