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“Be Still” doesn’t always mean “Stand Still”

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. Continue Reading

Aside published on May 30, 2014 | | 5 Responses

What’s Your Story?

The Psalmist wrote,

“Every day of my life was recorded in your book.”  (Ps. 139:16 Voice)

The Apostle John adds weight to this statement when he wrote in Revelation 20 that there are books that will be opened on the Day of Judgment – books that hold a record, an account of our lives.  There will be a day when the story of our life will be read.

A sobering thought.

So the question we must ask ourselves is this:  When stand before the Lord what will be the story that He reads to us?  Will it be . . .

a story of faith?

a story of obedience?

a story of prayer?

a story of sacrifice?

Will the story of our life delight the heart of Jesus and make Our heavenly Father rejoice?

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Aside published on May 11, 2014 | | 3 Responses

Rags for Ropes

Damp.

Dark.

Sinking into the mud of an empty cistern.

The adversaries of the prophet Jeremiah had persuaded the king to silence his voice.  The city of Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians.  False prophets were predicting victory and deliverance, but not Jeremiah.  The word of Lord that Jeremiah boldly proclaimed was an unpopular message – a word of impending disaster and defeat, not of victory and deliverance.

Furious, the court officials decided to silence Jeremiah’s voice by lowering him into a deep cistern without food or water.  Left in the sinking mud to die, their plan was to silence his voice forever.

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Aside published on April 28, 2014 | | 4 Responses

What are you doing here?

Fear.

It can knock us off center.

It can take us to a place of retreat.

And it can happen to the best of us.

It can happen to a pastor.  It can happen to a teacher.  It can happen to a great prophet.  In fact, it did.  Fear knocked one of God’s greatest prophets off balance.  His name?  Elijah.

Elijah had challenged 850 prophets of Baal to prove the power of their god by imploring Baal to send a fire to consume their sacrifice.  All day they cried out to Baal with no success.  Then Elijah stepped up to his sacrifice.  He called out to God, and He sent a mighty fire that not only consumed the sacrifice but also vapored the water that surrounded it.

It was miracle of power so dazzling that the Israelites in attendance fell on their faces and worshipped the Lord.  Then they joined Elijah in slaying these 850 prophets of Baal who had polluted their land with pagan worship.

What a day of victory!  What a time of rejoicing!  What a faith building experience!  Elijah must have had a smile on his face from ear to ear.  Yet something happened that radically changed Elijah’s demeanor.

The fury of Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife.

When she learned what Elijah had spearheaded, the slaying of her prophets and a revolt against Baal worship, she was furious and issued a death warrant.  Elijah, who had stood fearless before 850 prophets of Baal, was now consumed with a fear of Jezebel – a fear that drove him out of Israel, a fear that caused him to retreat to a wilderness cave at Mt. Horeb.

What is interesting about Mt. Horeb is that it was also known by another name – Mt. Sinai.  This is the same mountain where Elijah’s ancestors had first met God after being delivered from their Egyptian bondage.  This is where they heard the voice of God give them the Ten Commandments.

As Elijah’s ancestors stood at the foot of Mt. Horeb, they were at the right place, at the right time, centered in the will of the Lord.

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Aside published on April 13, 2014 | | 5 Responses

The Best Pathway

I am directionally challenged.  I know it.  My husband can confirm it.  My kids have experienced it.  When given directions, I wouldn’t want to be told to go north or south.  Knowing that my destination was east of Main Street or west of the river was not helpful.  I just needed to know when to turn left or right and, when possible, be provided with a landmark or two. 

But all that changed with my IPhone.  I now have a Map app.  Just give me the address and I have directions at my fingertips – in an organized list or on a map which tracks my progress.  This marvelous app provides me a choice of routes and even suggests the best one to take, but there is one thing that I have noticed.

The shortest route, the most direct route is not always the one selected as the best one to take.  Traffic and construction can make the most direct route the most difficult one.

Traffic

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Aside published on March 31, 2014 | | 7 Responses

Divine Delay

There is no hesitation in Jesus, but there are divine delays.   And, sometimes we get confused and fail to note the difference- which is exactly what happened to Mary and Martha. 

Their brother Lazarus was deathly ill.  The medicines weren’t working.  The doctors had no solution.  The sisters quickly sent a message to Jesus, “Come quickly.  Lazarus is deathly ill.  There is no hope unless you come immediately and heal him.”

How confident they must have been when they sent that message to Jesus.  After all, how many strangers had Jesus healed?  How many lepers had been made whole?  How many blind could now see?  How many deaf could now hear?  If Jesus gladly ministered for hours healing strangers, certainly he would rush to Bethany the minute he received that message.  Surely his response to heal his dear friend Lazarus would be immediate.  But Jesus didn’t come.  He received the message, and he stayed where he was for two more days.

Jesus deliberately waited two more days. 

Lazarus dies.  Mary and Martha bury him in the tomb.  And they weep.  They weep with grief burdened hearts.  But they also weep with deep disappointment. 

 Where was Jesus? 

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Aside published on March 17, 2014 | | 6 Responses

No Hesitation

They were doing exactly what he had instructed them to do.

 In a boat,

on the Sea of Galilee,

sailing to the opposite shore. 

When the wind came up and a storm blew in.  No problem – after all some among them were fishermen.  They had weathered many storms, but these winds grew fierce.  Far from shore, their boat was being battered by churning waves. 

Suddenly in the distance, something more terrifying than a fierce wind appeared.  A man walking on water.  Certain that they had seen a ghost, they cried out in fear. 

”But Jesus was quick to comfort them.  ‘Courage, it’s me.    Don’t be afraid.'”           (Matt. 14:27 Msg)

Stormy-Sea-Art-485x728 (2)

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Aside published on March 2, 2014 | | 6 Responses

The Potter’s Wheel

With a lump of wedged clay in his hand, a potter sits at his wheel.  After he throws the clay onto the wheel, the potter anchors his elbows to the inside of his thighs.  His secured hands are ready to begin the most important part of transforming this lump of clay into a beautiful piece of pottery.

He is ready to center the clay on the potter’s wheel.

As the clay spins and wobbles unevenly, the potter places his cupped hands on the clay and adds pressure.  He works the spinning clay up and down between his hands until it is perfectly centered.  Then the potter gives the clay its shape, its form.  Then it can become a beautiful vase, a cup, a bowl.

But without being properly centered, without the clay yielding to the pressure of the potter’s hands, the clay becomes a misshapen, uneven piece of pottery – cracked and unusable.

Centered) Continue Reading

Aside published on February 16, 2014 | | 4 Responses

Access

The protocol was clear.  No one approached the king while on his throne except by invitation.  To approach uninvited was a certain death sentence.  Yet there she stood, ready to enter that throne room.  Her need to see the king was urgent.  The lives of her people were at stake.  A decree for their slaughter had been set.  Their only hope was for Esther to gain a reprieve from the king.

No doubt over the last few days, she had recounted how God’s divine hand had been upon her life.  Among hundreds, she had been chosen to be King Ahazareas’ queen.   Yet even as queen, she knew she had no right to enter the throne room on her own initiative.   Death was the law.  Fear must have rocked her in those still hours of the night.  Her only hope was that God would put it upon the king’s heart to exercise the one small loophole of the law:

If the king extended his scepter, then the death sentence would be lifted.

She would have access to the king; he would hear her request.

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Aside published on February 2, 2014 | | 11 Responses

A Touch

Like a balloon punctured by a pin, doubt can deflate your faith.  It happens to the best of us.  It even happened to those closest to Jesus – His disciples.  All day Friday, all day Saturday and even in the wee hours of Sunday morning, doubt had claimed their hearts and ravaged their faith.  Their hope and expectations in Jesus had been nailed to a Cross.  Yet when news arrived that Jesus was resurrected, when ten of disciples saw the resurrected Jesus, doubt disappeared and joy filled their hearts once again.

But there was one disciple who was missing when Jesus appeared.  There was one disciple who didn’t accompany Peter and John when they ran to the tomb and were encountered by an angel declaring the resurrection of Jesus.  Thomas was missing.  He wasn’t at the tomb. He wasn’t  in the room when Jesus appeared to his fellow disciples.

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Aside published on January 20, 2014 | | 9 Responses