Okay, Now Just Fall Back and Trust

Exodus 14:10 - 15 (RSV) ¹⁰When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were in great fear. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD;  ¹¹and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, in bringing us out of Egypt?  ¹²Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  ¹³And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  ¹⁴The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be still.”  ¹⁵The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 

I feel especially wicked today. The longer I live in Christ, the greater a sinner I see myself to be and a greater Savior I know our Lord to be. As my sin increases, God’s mercy multiplies to cover it with the all sufficient blood of His Son. “O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be.” I think the root of all sin lies in the idolatry of Self. How quickly I can turn inward and stew in my pettiness. How quickly I see myself as the center of a Universe where galaxies revolve around me.  This is not a pleasant disposition. There is no peace in narcissism. We sinners suffer greatly and with an unrighteous loneliness. Our idolatry keeps us from holy compassion. “It’s all about us.” Even the pain of other becomes an occasion to talk about our own. I long to have my heart broken by the sorrow of another – that I may be more Christ-like.

 

In the story above, I am not Pharaoh, in his menacing power and rage. I am too weak for such a role. I am not the Egyptians who know nothing of God’s covenants and promise. Far from it, I know the covenant sealed in the blood of Christ; I know that all his promises are “yes” for me. I am not Moses who holds fast to the promises of God and trusts all His provisions. No, I am among “the people of Israel.” I am one of those who are fearful and complaining. A great salvation waits me, if I were not frozen in fear and blocked by my independence.

Here is the righteous cure to my sinful predisposition to despair - “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today.” Okay, now I am pumped! Tell me what you want me to do, God, and I’ll do my best to get it done! God says, through Moses, “You have only to be still.” Is it that simple? I think, if stillness were simple I would have done it before now.

 

Can I be still in the midst of a storm? Can you?

 

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

 Courage, brother! do not stumble,

Though thy path be dark as night;

There’s a star to guide the humble,

Trust in God and do the right.

Norman Macleod (1812–1872)

 

Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber,

Holy angels guard thy bed.

Heavenly blessings without number

Gently falling on thy head.

Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

 

 I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea

Come drifting home with broken masts and sails;

I shall believe the hand which never fails,

From seeming evil worketh good to me.

And, though I weep because those sails are battered,

Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered,

“I trust in thee.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919)

 

Let us be like a bird for a moment perched

On a frail branch when he sings;

Though he feels it bend, yet he sings his song,

Knowing that he has wings.

Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

 

Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.

C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)

 

That little bird has chosen his shelter; above it are the stars and the deep heaven of worlds; yet he is rocking himself to sleep without caring for tomorrow’s lodging, calmly clinging to his little twig and leaving God to think for him.

Martin Luther (1483–1546)

 What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us the time is coming when we shall have nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will be swept away, and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo faith that is a terrifying thought, but to real faith it is one of the most comforting thoughts the heart can entertain.

A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)