“The Lord shall fight for you; you shall hold your peace”

 Exodus 14:14

 Everyday, we are in a spiritual warfare which is quite natural in the life of God’s children. Here, the contest is a big battle between Egyptians and Israelites.  Egyptian represents darkness of this world and Israelites represent His redeemed children.  These two groups are always in fight.  This will never end until we reach the eternity.  But God says in Exodus 14:14 that this battle is mine and you stand still.  God gave this promise to Israelites and now to His redeemed children.  So long as our ground is clear, He will do the battle for us.  Let us see how God did the battle for Israelites.

            Exodus 14:16 “But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it”.  God asked Moses to lift the rod and stretch it over the sea.  The children of Israel went on dry ground through the midst of the sea.  This looks like a great victory. God’s plan is different. We see in Exodus 14:17, He hardened the heart of the Egyptians and He allowed them to follow the Israelites.  God is in action, still we see our situation is getting worse and severe.  Although He opened the way in the sea, the enemy is just behind them. God purposely let the enemy to reign on them for sometime for His glory. 

            Exodus 14:18 “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord”  God will show HIS mighty strength through the enemy.  He allowed the enemy to follow you for a while so that every one will know He is the living God.  Many times, in our adverse situation, there will be a testimony to strengthen others that Our God liveth.  If we stand still and leave the battle to the Lord, we will see HIS power manifested in our troubles.

            Israelites are walking with their cattle and   household.  Here, Egyptians are just behind them fully armed.  If they look back, they will loose their faith and run here and there. They should not get scared seeing the big army coming behind them.   For that, see What God did.  Exodus 14:19 “And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them”.  God made the angel to stand behind the Israelites and the pillar of the cloud stood behind them.  How faithful our God is.  In our crisis, God commands His angels to stand with us to fight for us. 

            The cloud was darkness to the Egyptians, but light to the Israelites at night.  See the next work of the Lord in Exodus 14:21 “The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided” Whole night, God brought a strong east wind which made the waters to be divided and made the land dry.  It is written the wide path was 12 miles wide and the water was departed 75 to 100ft deep.   The Israelites walked on the dry land in the midst of the sea and waters were wall unto them.  What a miracle God did for Israelites.  God was doing the battle and they were just marching forward. 

            Egyptians followed them even in the wide path which was prepared by God for His children (Exodus 14:23).   So far, our human eyes cannot see any victory in this battle.  Here, God is allowing the enemy to walk through our promise.  This happens in our life.  We know we are going to get the victory, but it is delayed and seems as if we are going to loose it.  By this time, we get irritated and disappointed.  Here, for Israelites God opened the wide path for them to go, but at the same time He allowed the enemy to reach the middle of the path.  When it happens in our crisis, we think something went wrong somewhere and we might give up.   But, Moses stood still and watched the battle how God was working for them.  He knew it was the Lord doing the battle for them.  Throughout the battle, we do not see any deliverance.  Our human eyes can see only enemy behind them, even walking on their promise, the dry land.

            In Exodus 14:25, when God took off their chariot wheels and they could not move further , the enemy is saying, “God is fighting for Israelites against Egyptians”.  The enemy himself says that it is time for us to get out because God is standing with them.

            As the Israelites reached the other end of the sea, God overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.  Exodus 14:28 says the waters returned and covered the chariots and horsemen.  When the enemy followed them in the way which was prepared by  God in the sea, the Israelities could not think that the Egyptians would be destroyed.  God killed all Egyptians without touching even one Israelite.  Exodus 14:30 “Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore”.  Our God said it and He will do it for us. Be still and know that He is the Lord.  We need to be patient in our adverse situation.  God will never allow your enemy to triumph over you. The victory is ours. 

            More than that every one will see the great work which the Lord did.  Exodus 14:31 says the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. 

            Through this battle, not one Israelite perished.  They got strengthened more. This is the way God fights for His children.  A struggle or a battle in the life of God’s children is not to destroy them, but to strengthen them.  If you stand still and praise the Lord in your crisis, you will really see how God is fighting for His children and giving them victory.  It will become a great testimony for heathens to see the mighty work of the living God.     

Amen

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