Distaff Side Retreat, Session 1

Session 1: Be Still and See
Exodus 14:13-14

Life doesn’t come with an easy button. We all face trials, questions and quandaries that leave us wondering if we heard God wrong, if we did the right thing or if we are going the right direction. How is it possible that after following God, clearly stepping out into whatever He has called us to, we still face truly (not imagined) insurmountable obstacles along the straight and narrow path?

“If God told you to take the job, why are the bills still piling up larger than the income, or why are you facing an ethical dilemma right out of the gate, or why has it brought a wedge between you and your spouse?”

“If God told you to buy the house, why did you lose part of your income and you suddenly find yourself unable to make the payments, or why can’t you sell the house you were in before, or why are you next door to the most hateful family on earth?”

“If God told you to have another baby, why is she sick ALL the time, or why isn’t your husband helping you with ANY of the responsibilities of parenting, or why is it impossible to find affordable childcare?”

Whatever the hurdle, it’s not always a result of mis-hearing God, sometimes it’s just…a hurdle.

Exodus 14:13-14
“But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by, (King James says “Stand Still”) and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today; For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you, while you keep silent.’”

Was there any doubt that God had led the children of Israel out of Egypt? NO! Moses didn’t sit down and have a committee meeting with Merriam and Aaron and start asking questions about who heard what from God and questioning whether they jumped the gun on their exodus. No, there were plenty of signs that God was in this, they’re known around the globe as the 10 plagues. What Moses did was genius and it shows he had more than just a superficial relationship with Jehovah. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had led them OUT of Egypt and that God wouldn’t do that unless he were going to finish the job. So, what did he do? He told them to be still.

Here’s the line of thinking. “If God told us to leave, gave us the freedom and the open door to do it than it wasn’t because He wanted us to be slaughtered at the beach, or drown in the sea. He has something planned to make this work and I don’t want to miss it.”

I used to read stories like this, and this one in particular I pictured Moses so serious. I figured no matter what he was probably pretty nervous and anxious about how bad this was going to get. However, now looking at from a different perspective, I think of him differently. Here’s a guy who saw God in a burning bush, a guy who has realized his worth from a baby doomed to death to a prince, a guy who has just seen God perform 10 of the craziest miracles ever. He knows that God wants this exodus to happen, so he isn’t yelling out to the crowd HOPING God will do something. He’s trying to get them to calm down and so they won’t miss it!

He doesn’t leave them hanging either. There are three encouraging statements in this passage that shouldn’t be taken lightly. They are what we too should cling to when we face life’s hurdles. Look at these words:

1) …He will accomplish for you today…
The word accomplish is from the NASB, the King James says “show” but the original Hebrew word is “Asah.” The general meaning is to “do” or “make” in a general sense. It has the connotation of ethical obligation.

Moses was telling them, “look, keep your eyes open, God IS going to show you something, He IS going to do something for us because…well…He has to. This was HIS plan.”

God directed this whole story. He groomed Moses to be the leader of His plan, He showed up with the plagues and the Passover angel, He hardened Pharaoh’s heart and then broke it with the death of his first born son. If all the planning and preparation were up to God, so would the task of making it work. What would this scene look like if Moses had become impatient and tried to carry out the exodus another way?

He knew God wanted them to have their freedom and the plagues weren’t working out like he’d hoped. The wizards and prophets of Egypt seemed to be able to duplicate the things that God did through Moses and frankly that wasn’t cool. Let’s say Moses got the Israelite slaves to dig a huge tunnel out of Egypt they could all escape in the middle of the night. They are out and headed to the promise land when Pharaoh wakes up and finds his favorite Israelite butler isn’t coming with his coffee. He slips into his most comfortable military skirt, hitches his favorite horse to his chariot, having the entire Egyptian army at his disposal he gathers up the boys and rides off to fetch back his slaves. Now we see the same picture of army on one side and the sea on the other but we’ve got Moses going…uh, oh…maybe we left too soon.

*When we get ahead of God, when we aren’t able to hear from God, when we miss what God is saying…we lose our ability to walk through trials with the confidence that He has a way out.*

I also love that he says…”today.” For the children of Israel, there wasn’t much choice. Today had to be when God showed up with their miracle because they didn’t have any tomorrow if He didn’t. How often do we walk faithfully with God until we are down to the last minutes and then become afraid because God hasn’t “done something?” His timing is perfect. Even in Moses’ situation I’ve often thought how incredible it was that there was enough time to part the waters and get 3 million people to the other side and still be able to close up the water on top of the Egyptian army. They had to start their journey and the Egyptians had to start chasing them at just the right time or it wouldn’t have worked.

2) ….For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. …

The word “see” used twice in this phrase is what I find so encouraging about this.
The Israelites did SEE the Egyptian army chasing them. It was not an imagined terror. It was not an overreaction on their part to want to get away from them. It was death chasing them, cruel and painful death kicking up a cloud of sand in the distance and they weren’t coming for one last hug goodbye.

Our trials are from a real enemy. He isn’t trying to simply frustrate us or slow us down, and he certainly isn’t trying to teach us a lesson. He is a killer. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.

Our trials bring a very real threat to us. Diseases come to rob us of life and abundance. Financial crisis comes to steal our security, our homes and our future. Relationship issues come to destroy our faith in people and even ourselves. We have a lot to protect, a lot to cherish and a lot to consider regarding what we see.
The wonderful declaration Moses makes here is that what we see is about to be taken care of so completely that we won’t see it again…ever.

3) …The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.
II Chronicles 20:15-17
He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

II Kings 6:15-17
Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Again the II Chronicles passage and the II Kings passage use the word “see.” Stand firm and see.” II Chronicles 20:17 and “open his eyes that he may see” II Kings 6:17.

Our faithful Father is not obligated to show us what He’s doing, but in our stillness…in our resignation to allow Him to prove Himself He opens our eyes and allows us to SEE His mighty acts. Do you really think that God who has a host of heavenly warriors at His disposal needs your help? Really?

At the end of that phrase, the end of the verse says, “while you keep silent.” I think He meant that. The children of Israel were called children for a reason. Most of you know what a torture it can be to listen to questions you’ve already answered or about something you are taking care of, and no amount of explanation will satisfy the listener or help them understand any better the course you are taking. Can you imagine what it would have been like for Moses to have the people behind him asking him what God is doing? Even if Moses knew what God was going to do, they wouldn’t have believed him if he told them.

I could relate the Word of God to a recipe we follow. It’s written out for us and if we pay attention to each detail, work in order and believe that it will work as it is, we find we are able to produce something good with our hands. Well, have you ever tried to bake something from scratch with your kids right there at your side? It’s almost impossible to get through the whole thing without smacking someone down. “I don’t know why they need baking soda…I think it helps them to be fluffy…I don’t know why baking soda makes things fluffy…NO, there is no baking soda in your teddy bear!” Moses was listening to God…giving orders as he heard them and silence was important.

So, these three encouraging phrases: He will accomplish, You will see them no more, and He will fight for you! These are all the RESULT of our stillness. Now…how do we do that. What must we do to be still? What does that look like in our 2011 lives in Middle Tennessee?

Let’s look back to the beginning of the passage. His first words were, “Do not fear!
If there’s one thing that we do in those situations, it’s fear. “What if?” is our first thought. “What if we lose the house?” “What if our child is REALLY sick?” “What if I can’t even DO this job?” We immediately run through the scenarios of failure and pick our favorite to dwell on. Why did Moses say don’t fear? Because He knew God as FAITHFUL.

The next thing Moses told them to do was to stand still. Don’t fear, and don’t move. Let me handle this and don’t get in the way!!!!

It’s stillness that we’re after this weekend and we can’t get there unless we are able to do that first command of ignoring the fear. How do we get past the fear? We have to believe God to be faithful, truthful, loving and able. He IS all those things and more, but do we really believe it. It’s in those situations between a rock and a hard place, an army and the sea, that we reveal what we believe about God.

*Our next two blog posts will be stories from my personal blog that this lesson reminded me of.*