Silent
There are times when we read a familiar passage and things never before seen become so obvious. I had just such a time while reading Exodus 13-14. Israel has just experienced their first Passover and Pharaoh has let them go, FINALLY.
So 600,000 men, aside from children (Ex. 12:37) are making this journey to the Promise Land, weighed down with their kneading bowls of unleavened dough bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. Quite a scene, wouldn’t you think?
If you were leaving a place quickly, what would you carry? We have so much materially, it would be hard to narrow it down and almost all of it would be left behind. We’re seeing that played out before our eyes as we watch the Ukrainian people flee for their lives.
I grew up camping as a child and my current family still camps. I remember backpacking as a young woman and carrying all I needed in my pack. Now we take everything, including the kitchen sink. Setting up camp and packing it away takes a lot of time. I digress.
Did you ever wonder about how Israel would set up camp and take it down every day with that many people? That would be a monumental task! I’d read about the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but it never hit me what the implications of that meant until now. “The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” (Ex. 13:21) They didn’t stop moving until God told them to camp (Ex. 14:2)! That meant they walked for days and days! We know about the fact that their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out (Deut. 29:5), so they could just go until He told them to stop. That would be amazing to see!
Then they get to the Red Sea and here comes Pharaoh and his army. Israel appeared to be hemmed in. We’re watching something similar on our tv screens as we see the Russian army convoy sitting outside Kyiv. The fear is real. Nowhere to turn, certain death seems imminent. For Israel, God moved that same pillar of cloud (it was daytime, we can conclude) behind them to keep Egypt’s army at bay while He literally dried up the Red Sea floor, holding back the water on either side, until all of Israel walked through with their flocks, children, and all their stuff. BUT GOD, right? He preserved them, He rescued them, He protected them.
(At times I wonder if something similar is happening in Ukraine, as that forty-mile convoy of equipment and tanks sits still on the road. Whatever the cause, I see it as an emerging miracle on behalf of the people of Ukraine FOR GOD’S GLORY. Just as He wanted Egypt and Israel to know that He was fighting for them; perhaps, He wants the world to see He’s fighting for Ukraine—not because of Ukraine, but for His name. The Church is in Ukraine (including the CM&A), and believers all over the world are praying for them.)
The one verse that really was a new one for me was Ex. 14:14—“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” I could surely learn to keep silent and watch what the Lord does for me! How many times do we think we HAVE to say something, we HAVE to do something, when He calls us to just keep silent? We can cry out to Him, but do we need to cry out to anyone else? He was faithful to what He told them He would do—He destroyed the Egyptian army before their eyes.
Whatever battle we face, whatever situation seems impossible or overwhelming, let us remember His faithfulness to us and to His promises, and that “The Lord will fight for [us] while [we] keep silent!”
