Monthly Archives: July 2019
“Be Quiet and Move Forward!”
“The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.” (Exodus 14:14)
This is the YouVersion verse of the day for July 1. It is a very fine reminder. The Israelites were in a desperate situation. They were trapped between Pharaoh and his army behind, and a seemingly impassable body of water in front of them. As we might say it, they were between the devil and the deep blue sea.
The Israelites were quite understandably panicky. They cried out. They blamed Moses. They longed for “the good old days” when they were the Egyptians’ slaves. After all, there were plenty of graves in Egypt. What need was there to go into this desolate place to die?!
And into this impossible situation, Moses speaks the improbable words, “. . . you must be quiet.”
However, taking vs. 14 all by itself may be somewhat misleading. This is a common problem in reading the Bible or any other book, or in having any conversation. Words out of context can be very misleading. In fact, an isolated statement may mean precisely the opposite of what it seems to mean when you factor in the context. In this case, vs. 15 seems to stand on their heads Moses’ words about being quiet.
“15 The LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.’” (Exodus 14:15-18, English Standard Version)
When there is no forward, God commands his leader Moses to command the people to move forward. How do you go forward when there is no such thing?
There is frequently a forward, even when we don’t see it is, or think that there could be one. We may not like the forward, but it may be the right one, nonetheless.
So, you don’t know what to do? Move forward! You may need to be quiet first. But then, you may hear the command to move forward anyway.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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