Daughter of The Potter

The same God who led you in will lead you out: waiting on a miracle

My all-time, store-it-in-your-pocket, write-it-on-your-heart, meditate-on-it-constantly favorite verse is Exodus 14:14. It’s nothing fancy, nothing crazy. It is a simple utterance that Moses gives to the Israelites in a time of extreme uncertainty and fear. At a time of chaos and confusion. This beautiful verse merely states:

In order to comprehend the gravity of this verse, we desperately need context. We need to understand the situation from which this verse comes and the implications of what takes place after. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, had been enslaved by the Egyptians for over FOUR HUNDRED years, we are talking generational enslavement. I’m sure they were losing hope and wondering if God was ever going to fulfill His promise of bringing them out of their enslavement. When finally God’s promise of deliverance came in the form of a man named Moses and a series of plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, the Pharaoh of Egypt agreed to let God’s people go. However, they still had a long road ahead of them.

God led his people through the desert as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). This meant that God’s presence was constantly with His people. He never left them, never abandoned them. In Exodus 14:2, God gives Moses specific instructions for the Israelites to camp by the Red Sea. What unfolds in the next several verses is where things get a little interesting. You see, Pharaoh had a slight change of heart about letting the Israelites go. Pharaoh realized that in freeing the Israelites,  he had lost his slaves (shocker Pharaoh). So the King of Egypt gathered together six hundred chariots and the best of his army in a mad dash to pursue the Israelites. 

Now remember, God had just instructed the Israelites to camp by the Red Sea. But more precisely, what is so crazy about this location is that God specifically led them to an area that was surrounded by impassable hills and a section of the Red Sea that was too wide and too deep to be crossed. But not only that, an angry army was coming to drag them back in shackles to a life of slavery. The Israelites were surrounded on every side with no option for escape. This was the completely impossible situation that they found themselves in. 

From bondage to trapped. I guarantee you that there was some intense fear and a huge desire to stop trusting God and instead take matters into their own hands. Because isn’t that what happens to us when we are confronted with extreme difficulty, with hopeless uncertainty? We try to do everything in our power to overcome the situation, or we allow fear to hold us captive until the thing we were running from comes to take us prisoner again, to consume us. 

But here is what we have to remember: the situation the Israelites were in was not shocking to God. He was with them, and God knows all things. Keep in mind that God’s presence was with the people. He was guiding them by cloud and fire, always with them.  If you remember in verse two, the Lord told Moses were to have the Israelites camp. God also knew that Pharaoh would pursue the Israelites. God knew the circumstances that His people were up against. Their plight was an opportunity for God’s glory. 

You see, God led them to a place of dependency, of difficulty, of uncertainty. Not to harm them, but to grow them. Read that again. God led them to a place of dependency, of difficulty, of uncertainty. Not to harm them, but to grow them. To offer a deliverance unlike any they could accomplish on their own or even imagine, to perform a miracle. God is not shocked when we are confronted by difficult things. Scripture tells us that we will face trouble in this world (John 16:33). But when I am at my breaking point, when troubles surround me, when I am overwhelmed, when my situation seems impossible, I want the God of the world to fight for me. 

Insert our key verse, Exodus 14:14, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” It’s not about what we can do in our power. If we try to fight on our own, we are certain to be confronted by impassable obstacles. In our times of hopelessness, we need to leave room for God to move, to fight, and we need to do the hardest thing: to be still. Quiet your heart and sit in the presence of God. Find peace in the seemingly impossible situation, because that is where God moves, where he works miracles. 

Understand that God won’t deliver us from our situation in our way. He will move in His power, in His time, and in His own unique way. Hence, the freaking Sea being parted. I can only imagine the shock and thrill that the Israelites must have felt. Like, this had to be one of the biggest plot twists in History. God showed up in an unimaginable way in the middle of their struggle. 

The previous verse (Exodus 14:13)  states, “Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again’”. When God fights for us, He doesn’t put a Band-Aid on the problem. He completely eradicates it. That is the promise of God. Don’t fear the situation. Don’t let the enemy distract you and seem bigger than your God. Rather, stand firm in the deliverance that comes only through being still and trusting in Him. When we sit in the presence of God, we grant Him space to work in ways that are unfathomable to us. The battle belongs to God. So when we are trapped in the seemingly impossible, God whispers, “Be still, I’m here, I’m coming to fight for you”. 

There is one last thing I want to leave you with. Being still doesn’t mean doing nothing. Being still is a position of our heart. The New King James Version translates this verse as “The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:14 NKJV). This is less about doing nothing and just waiting for God to solve all your problems. It is more about trusting in God. Have peace in the situation you are in, for it is there where He will move and work. Whatever struggle you find yourself in, hold fast to the truths of scripture.  Stand firm on your knowledge of Him. In our seemingly impossible situations, continue to trust, to have peace. God will move in miraculous ways when you do; in His power, in His time, and in His own unique way.

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