Holding onto Faith

UV 1096/10,000 Holding Onto Faith

The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Exodus 14 v 14

Right through scripture and history, God has manifested that He is the God of impossible odds. When the Egyptian chariots, cavalry and troops closed in on the fleeing Israelites, nobody would have given the Hebrew race a chance. They would have been overpowered in just a while by the military might of Egypt. In fact, the Israelites also despaired and cried out to Moses, “ Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert ? “ But Moses displayed his faith. He did not flinch at the sight of the huge force that was in pursuit and in striking distance. He did not even go down on his knees to pray. His faith had grown so much over the many encounters He had with Jehovah that far that he did not entertain any doubt that He who had delivered them in the past will deliver them now. He did not plead or cringe before God. He did not advice or offer counsel to God. He did not try to “ help” or offer assistance to God to find a resolution to the crisis. We too in times of crisis should just hold onto Christ and do His bidding. Holding onto our peace does not mean “doing nothing”. It does not mean passivity or complacency. It means holding onto the promises of God to deliver us in every situation and whatever be the odds against us, knowing who He is, knowing His Word and acknowledging and trusting Him at every step and stage. The uni-verse is a commitment of God not that He may fight but that He shall surely fight for us. We need to hold onto our faith in this commitment of God.

Moses told the Israelites in a calm tone, “ Do not be afraid… The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” The Lord then prompted Moses to tell the people to move on for He had prepared His plan for battle: He asked Moses to hold his staff over the Red Sea and that made the waters stand apart like walls for the Israelites to cross over as on dry land. He bought time for the Israelites to cross over by sending the angel and the pillar of cloud that was moving ahead of them in the desert to the rear of the Israelites. The cloud produced darkness on the side of the Egyptians and light on the side of the Israelites. The message from this is that when we fight on the side of right, we will find light. This happened for the whole duration of the night. During the last watch of the night, the Lord threw the Egyptians into confusion. He caused the wheels of the chariots to come off so that it was difficult for them to pursue the Jews. Some of them realized that the Lord was fighting against them and that it was pointless for them to pursue them. But the more they hardened their minds and resolve to capture and kill the fleeing hapless Israelites, the Lord manifested His power. The Israelites had lived all their lives seeing only Egyptians ruling over them and oppressing them. But from that day God gave them complete deliverance. They would never see the Egyptians again all their lives. As the climax, Moses was asked to hold his staff over the water of the Red Sea to make the standing waters flow back and drown the pursuing Egyptian army. Recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed finding rusted chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea. The great events of the Exodus happened in the year 1446 BC when Thutmoses III was the Pharaoh. Even in those days when there were no newspapers or mass media, the news of the amazing Jewish victory travelled far and wide and the awe of the God of Israel fell upon all of the kingdoms in the path of the Jews on their return to Canaan. The story of the Jewish Exodus is a metaphor for our life on this planet. The forces of Satan( the Pharaoh of this world who keeps changing his word and promise) hold us in bondage to sin, death and misery from the point of birth till God raises the great deliverer Jesus to take us across from slavery to freedom, from death to eternal life.
Why does God allow so many struggles in the lives of His flock? It is to reveal His power, sovereignty and glory. The people on His side see the light, hope, love, grace and mercy while the people opposing Him see the darkness of death, defeat, shame.. All of scripture is a rallying point for all people to join the winning side of God. He always takes the side of the weak against the strong, the side of the just against the unjust, the side of the faithful against the faithless. Whatever be the odds against us, the Lord will turn the tide of the battle to give us victory and deliverance. We only need to hold our peace, remain still in our spirits, remain calm, not worried, anxious and confident that the Lord will deliver us. We should not wince as the God in whom we trust is both faithful and invincible. IF He was whimsical and acted in accordance to His whim, pleasure and mood, then we could not rely on Him even if His power is formidable. But as He is faithful to His Word and His promises, as He does not change, as He has no favourites or prejudice, we know for sure He will act on our behalf as long as we ourselves are doing our very best to be faithful and just. It is also an exhortation to us, “ Don’t just do it but whatever you do, do the just.”

Prateep V Philip