Last night I was chatting with a friend asking for prayer – someone I go way way back with to the earliest days of my young faith in college. She shared a verse that came to mind to pray for me:
Exodus 14:14
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
I was pretty sure this came from the part in Exodus before the crossing of the Red Sea, which she confirmed. I must confess I don’t always methodically read Scripture so much in recent years apart from listening in church or other opportunities. But it still embedded in my soul and part of who I am. Like in the Psalm that says “Thy word have I hidden in my heart” I am amazed at how so many specific statements of verses can suddenly be brought to mind when needed and in certain situations or my thinking. All these years later I have learned that unpacking the meaning(s) of Scripture can be way more complicated than I first believed – yet at times some things are pretty simple.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Pretty simple and crosses over most every spiritual or personal paradigm of human decency and embraced by most every person of every spiritual persuasion whose baseline is not to wish ill toward their fellow human beings.
But, back to Exodus 14:14. Whether you are a literalist or see metaphor, or both, this is a significant spritual message. The sharing of this verse last night meant quite a lot to me because during the past months I have repeatedly been brought to that sense before God that I am metaphorically at the Red Sea, asking “now what?”
Again.
And again.
And again and again.
As I write now two more verses are coming to mind (which I will look up for actual words) – that we are “pressed on all sides but not broken (?)” and the Psalmist’s cry “how long oh Lord?”
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Pslam 13 “How long, O Lord? …. How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God…. lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your
steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt
bountifully with me.”
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And then we also share the common feelings sometimes, metaphorically, that the Israelites voiced in
Ex. 14: 10-12, right before Moses tells them to be still and that God is fighting for them. These feelings are fears that after all God has brought us through, that in the end of the story our worst fears will yet come upon us. As though God is a cruel manipulator, leading us to believe He is for us and acting on our behalf only in the end to pull the rug out from under us and give His imaginary divine laugh. We’ve all thought that at times, haven’t we?
I often wonder what the Israelites thought when the Sea opened and they started through with the walls of water held back but threatening to engulf them at any moment. Again before the Sea parted they voiced this same idea I mentioned above:
Ex. 14: 10-12
“As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them.
They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves
in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out
of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
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Over the years I have come to be OK with holding on to parts of words I find meaning in. I know there is always a deeper context and many words of Scripture were to certain people at certain moments in history. Yet I know that the Scripture captures thoughts, sentiments, ideas, wisdom and many things common to man.
Aren’t we all at times feeling the need for swift relief from the things that have been pressing us – seemingly on every side during certain life seasons – and we are just tired?
We’ve had enough.
We are done.
We are watching thing after thing in our situation and crying out “How long Oh God?” When will this awful time come to an end?
Yet we still are not seeing the metaphorical end of the tunnel. An increasing Light, yes or maybe, but the end of the current ordeal? Where is that? Sometimes I say “where does this all end?”
And we squirm don’t we? We know that metaphorically God is saying, “That’s for Me to know and you to find out!”
We are holding on. We are learning. We are growing. Spiritually and in many others ways. We get that. We know that the pathway of faith is not easy. That God allows things for reasons we do not know, and like Ex. 14:14 says, we need only be still sometimes at these worst moments, trusting completely that our loving God and Master of the Universe is fighting for us in ways we will never know. That we are in a constant cycle of faith and doubt – doubt when we don’t see anything but that Red Sea before us, then faith when once again it metaphorically parts.
But in my experience I am always just one moment away once again from the doubt the next time I’m at the Red Sea. And believe me, it is over and over again. We all experience that don’t we? It is life. It is one situation after another. Like with the manna in the wilderness – every new day they were wondering where the bread would come from. It is human nature.
That is why we are children of God, right? We are dependent and at times pretty powerless. We are full of fears and insecurities and we must learn to trust a loving heavenly Father. We must learn that the nature of the Universe is loving and good and is wired in our favor (to quote something I recall in a podcast I recently listened to).
And yes, though we slip back into fear and doubt every single time, I think the slip is not as far as the previous cycle. While we are slow learners, a blossoming part of us does think, “well remember the last time this happened?” And that helps us to hold on during this next round.
I’m not good at “being still.” I admit that. I am an extremely pro-active person. When there are issues, I want solutions. I work hard at determining and preparing for the next step. Metaphorically I “roll up my sleeves and get to work” on fixing things.
And what is most difficult to me is when I know the next step yet circumstances beyond my control keep me in the bullpen, so to speak. Things that keep happening through human errors or other circumstances and forces that throw more seemingly unnecessary obstacles in my path of pro-activeness. And I’m wondering “why?”….”again??”
I know many might say “it’s the devil!” but I know in reality, “stuff happens.”
Although yes…I think there are sometimes other forces in the universe stack against us in ways that seem beyond natural or probable. That is a very complicated discussion.
So I’m saying “OK God, now what? Can’t you just fix this? Like…yesterday?”
It’s usually in these moments I broadly reach out and say, “I need some urgent prayer.” There is no need to share details other than with those closest to me whom I have opportunity to speak with in person.
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We all have our crosses to bear, metaphorically. I recognize that most of the world would trade their set of problems for mine. I get that. Yet as another friend said, “But our problems are real to us.”
It is not as though everyone’s problems reside as part of a pie that has limited slices – that if our problems to us seem like quite a big slice then somehow the difficulties of others are diminished by us stating, “I am having a really, really hard time.”
Yet, I think it is good to remind ourselves – at the same time so to speak – that as long as there are children in cages on the border and people without clean drinking water and basic necessities even in our own nation – that many of our problems do differ in nature and perhaps it helps us to hang in there better?
Maybe??
But yes….I’m weary of “hanging in there” right now. I’m weary of what seems like endless dangling…
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I have this thing I have learned to do within my mind during such times. I think it comes from years and years of navigating through various trials and difficulties. I imagine many of you have learned this same truth. We all know that human nature is to say, “I just cannot take any more of this.” Whatever this is.
When I find myself thinking this, many times there is another thought in the back of my mind, “Yes, you can. And you will.”
Because the age old saying “there is no way out but through” usually is the case. Any woman who has given birth knows this. It doesn’t matter how much you wish you could pick up your metaphorical toys and go home, you are not leaving that birthing place. Walking out – if you even can – won’t end what you are experiencing. As they say, “it is what it is.” Perhaps that is what defines something a trial and tribulation. We are powerless to make it stop. We must simply endure it through. And during these times of powerlessness, we often grow spiritually and in many, many ways. More importantly, we learn things that will later serve others we find in the same circumstances.
We’ve been around the block in something and grown a bit stronger to help lift someone else up after our ordeal ends.
And then, the other well-known adage is true: This too shall pass.
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I visited again a YouTube video (below) to encourage myself this afternoon before getting back to my work, as I try to be still and know that my loving Heavenly Father is still fighting for me, 24/7.
And in whatever battle you are now facing…for you, too.
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
