Exodus 14:14

We have come to a time in our life when these 13 words couldn’t be more timely. While I realize the Lord gave these words and this promise to the Israelites when they were trapped in a bad situation while facing the Red Sea in front of them and Pharaoh and his army in hot pursuit behind them, the wisdom behind these words can be applied to our lives today. We are choosing to be still in our fight against this nasty cancer.

I’ll explain with details in a little bit, but first let’s look at this verse for some clarity.

These words are found in the Old Testament at a time when the Israelites were in a no win situation. They had previously obtained their freedom to leave Egypt after the death angel killed all of the first born sons in the homes of those who had not smeared the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. The sacrificial lamb was the salvation for the first born sons of Israel; the death angel passed by their homes because of the blood of the lamb. (This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus did for us. He sacrificed his life for ours so we could be free from the bondage of sin.) On this day they felt hopeless and in despair because of their situation. But God had other plans unknown to them. He was getting ready to show them that He alone would be their deliverer. He alone would be their salvation. He alone would get the glory.

On that day some of the Israelites were scared, some were terrified and some were complaining that they had “left the good life of slavery” in Egypt. The scared and terrified I get–have you ever seen the warriors in their fierce chariots? If 600 plus chariots were gunning for you and your only chance of survival was to swim into the Red Sea with about 2 million of your closest Israelite buddies, I’d be scared too. I love what Moses tells the Israelite 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. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:13-14 ESV

Then the Lord showed the Israelites and the Egyptians just who was in charge of the world. He told Moses to lift up his staff and to stretch out his hand over the sea and to divide it. He sent them through the Red Sea on dry land mind you and they escaped from the Egyptians. Then God hardened the heart of the Egyptians and they pursued the Israelites onto the dry land in the Red Sea. However, their fierce chariot wheels got stuck, there was confusion among the army and then God told Moses to stretch his staff back across the water. The waters returned to their boundaries and the entire Egyptian army that came out to defeat the Israelites were in turn defeated themselves.

Those words are perfect words for us to remember when we are facing an uncertain future. Fear not. We learned Philippians 4:6-7 a couple of weeks ago. It gives us the command to not be anxious about anything, but instead to pray about everything and give thanks, and then God will give us His precious peace. Stand firm. Know whom and what you are trusting for your future and hold tight onto that. See the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. Be on the lookout to see how God is going to work out your situation. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. Umm no, this is not a scripture you can call on to ask God to take out a group of people. But it does let us know that God is God, His ways are not our ways, and He can and will handle our situations in ways we could never dream or imagine. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. There are several different meanings for the words be silent–cease, be still, be quiet and hold your tongue are just a few. Since my mouth gets me into quite a bit of trouble, I decided to use the ESV version to memorize because I thought I might need that extra reminder. Ha! But seriously, isn’t this a good reminder that it is the Lord who will take care of our problems. In fact, I know from past experience when I take my hands (and my mouth) out of the mix and watch God work, then he solves the problem and I get to watch him in action. We forget that our battles are really not between us and our enemy—our battles are between our enemy and God! Let them fight it out.

How can I apply these principles to our situation? How can you apply this principle to yours? We can realize that the battle is not ours–it belongs to God. While we have known that on one level, the recent news that the cancer cell markers tripled since our last visit has helped solidify that there is nothing else I’m going to do at this point to fight the battle medically with the choices I’ve been given. The chemo is a no, the clinical trial is a Big “NO” (oh my gosh–the possible side effects were insane–a greater than 10% chance of becoming blind and/or developing Luekemia what?? Umm–no thank you. That’s not to mention that there was also a less than 10% possibility of having heart failure, kidney failure or liver failure.) I just don’t want to walk down that road when I absolutely feel fantastic.

Now let me emphasize that I am not throwing in the towel either–I’m just relinquishing full control to God and saying, “Here is my life–it is literally in your hands. I trust you to do your perfect will.”

I am choosing to be still and wait and watch God.

And—I have peace about it.

The battle is His. I can’t wait to see how he gets the victory!

What’s going on in your life that you need to be still/silent and let him fight the battle?

The battle is His–let Him fight it!