Pharaoh had set them free.  The future looked bright.  They were on their way to the Promised Land.  Camped beside the Red Sea, spirits were high.  When suddenly some among them noticed a cloud of dust in the distance.  As the faint rumbling of chariot wheels could be heard, panic ran rampant through the camp.  Fear overwhelmed them as they realized that the Egyptians were in hot pursuit.  Pharaoh knew his devastated country could not recover without slave labor.  So with over 600 chariots, Pharaoh and his skilled army were determined to unleash their military might against these Israelites to enslave them once again.

Hemmed in on every side with no way of escape, they cried out:

Moses, we told you we didn’t want to come.  We told you we should have stayed in Egypt.  Now we are going to die.     (Ex. 14:12)

 Moses quickly countered with words of encouragement:

 “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring today. . . . The Lord will fight for you.  You need only to be still.”  (Ex. 14:13 -14 NIV)

 Moses was preaching to the Israelites. They needed to stop complaining; they needed to “be still.”  They needed to stand firm in their faith, believing that the One who delivered them from Egypt would once again intervene on their behalf and defeat the army of Pharaoh.  Then Moses must have begun to pray earnestly to the Lord to fulfill His promise of deliverance, because God interrupted Moses with this response:

  “Why are you crying out to me?  Tell the people to get moving!  Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea.” (Ex. 14:15-16 NLT)

 The miracle of the Red Sea required the Israelites to “be still,” but not to “stand still.”  They were to still their complaints, their fear, their doubts.  Even Moses was to still his words of faith and encouragement.  Certainly these words pleased the Lord.  But to sum up God’s response He was saying:  It isn’t the time to talk.  It is the time to move.

The miracle of the Red Sea required Moses to move – to pick up his rod in faith and extend it over the sea.  It required the Israelites to move – to step off the sandy banks and step into the riverbed.  They had to move to experience the miracle.  They had to move into the miracle.

There are times when problems pursue us.  We see the dust cloud of troubles in the distance.  We feel the rumbling of difficulties.  In these moments, we need to stand firm in our faith.  We need to still our cries of worry and complaint.  But being still may not mean that God wants us to stand still.

I wonder how many miracles God is ready to perform.  He is just waiting for us to “be still” with our voices and to move in obedience.  I wonder what miracles He has designed for us, but God wants us to still our talking about what He can do and be obedient to what He wants us to do.  There are times that we need to stop talking and start doing.  There are times when God is admonishing us to “move” in obedience, so that He can do the miracle.