view from the valley: The way to abide, part 2

You would think the Israelites would have gotten it by now.

I mean, really. Could God have done it any more dramatically? Striking their captors with plagues while they watched in safety? Rivers of blood? Frogs, flies, and locusts? Boils and hail and thick darkness? And finally, the unspeakable. They had done nothing but watch as God their deliverer rose up and saved His children.

But fear has a way of making us forgetful. And so when God told them to turn back and camp by the sea, they didn't see their God making plans to deliver them once and for all. They didn't see the presence of God in the cloud that went before them. They saw an enormous, angry army of Egyptians hot on their trail. And they were terrified.

It's what we choose to look at that determines our response.

Never mind that God had already proved Himself ten times with this very same enemy that now raised his feeble fist against them. God had saved them, but in their hearts they were still slaves.

Fear keeps us bound to what God has freed us from.

They had a Plan, of course. It was a logical Plan. Get out of that place and get to the Promised Land before Pharaoh could change his mind.

They wanted to be safe. They wanted to settle down and be free and happy and prosperous.

But God knew they needed first to be rooted in Him. Because nothing else satisfies. We are made to be satisfied in Him.

And if He had let them beat a hot trail to the Promised Land with all that fear in their hearts? With all those walled cities and strong armies waiting for them? They would only exchange one land of slavery for another.

And God's plan wasn't simply for escape. It was for deliverance, once and for all.

"Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?" they complained to Moses. "What have you done to us by bringing us out of Eygypt? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Exodus 14:11-12)

We would rather be safe in our slavery than facing the enemy without a Plan.

But God wants us to be free.

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:13-14).

And here is the secret to abiding in Him.

Do not be afraid.

Stand firm.

Be still.

That word for "be still" means literally, "Be silent. Hold your peace."

And really the only way to have peace is to hold it, isn't it? And the only way to hold it is to open our hands and let go.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground" (Exodus 14:16).

They had to be still before they could hear the plan. And of course the plan was bigger and better than they ever would have imagined. But they couldn't hear it until they stopped crying out.

We are still a fearful, forgetful, noisy people, crying out in our slavery when He has already made us free. And maybe all this wandering is because He wants us to find our rest in Him and not in the Promised Land.

That word "be still" is found again in Zephaniah 3:17:

"The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."

He is in your midst. He will quiet you, still you, give you peace, if you will let Him.

And when you do, you will hear Him singing.