My journey towards learning how to “be still” began well before my diagnosis with MS (you can read more about my MS story here). As a classic over-worker, I knew I needed to take time away from the chaos and accelerated rhythms I had created. My mind was constantly racing and I need to learn how to let go and rest.
After my diagnosis, things I’d been trying to implement for years were no longer optional, they were necessary. It was time to step back and let God fight for me. I simply needed to be still.
But, as you know, that’s a lot easier said than done! It doesn’t just happen! But the more I studied one of my favourite verses about “being still,” the more I realized that I’m just like Israel. I make excuses. I blame others. I often fixate on the problem instead of the solution.
Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
When the nation of Israel is freed to leave Egypt after over 400 years as slaves, they are ecstatic! But when they find themselves on the banks of the sea, with the Egyptian army coming after them, they begin to panic and their tone of excitement and celebration transitions to one of resentment and fear.
In Exodus 14:14, Moses says to them, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Some versions actually say, “You need only to be silent,” indicating that the Israelites may have been freaking out a little. When you look a few verses earlier in Exodus 14:11-12, you can see that a full-blown freak out was pretty much in the works as they turn to Moses and say, “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 bring 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 that to die in the desert!
They are so fixated on their approaching problem, they forget about the faithfulness of the one who lead them out in the first place.
It made me think; how often to I just start running my mouth instead of passing my situations over to God and letting Him deal with it?
What’s going to happen? What if everything doesn’t work out? This isn’t what I thought things were going to look like. When am I going to get a break? Can’t I just give up?
“The Lord will fight for you. BE STILL.”
But God, I don’t know what to do. I’m at the edge of the water and I don’t know where to go next.
“I’ll fight for you. BE STILL.”
But what if I can’t handle the adversity that’s coming towards me?
“BE STILL.”
It’s pretty hard to be still when you’re looking at the obstacles and adversities you’re facing. Israel simply needed to stop talking and let God take care of it. And He did. He split the sea so they could walk right through it. (Reminds me of a line in a pretty powerful song by Bethel – No Longer Slaves – you can listen to the song here.)
I know what my adversity is. And today I’m choosing to take my hands off, look away from what appears to be trying to take me out, and Let Him fight for me. I’m choosing to Be Still. Anyone else in?
You can download this free Be Still graphic right here: