A Stilled Life (Know God, Know Courage)

A Stilled Life

Exodus 14:13-14

It is now our 5th Sunday of the month of April where we have our monthly theme “know God, know courage” and one of our monthly theme verse is found in our text today Exodus 14:14. From all of our exhortations that we have heard from the past Sundays, we have developed our faith and belief that truly God is the source of divine courage that we need.

Today, allow me to share again this verse and hope that we would still be reminded how God assured us on this promise, a promise that we don’t need to do anything but to be still. Easier said than done, but for humans like us, we tend to exert first our all our efforts in order to ensure that all we need and expectations on a given situation will be met satisfactorily and convincingly.

But what if God wants it to be opposite? What if God wants us to stop what we think is right and He commands us to be still? Sometimes it’s difficult for us to let it happen, but in most of our difficult situations, what we need is only to be still. Let us read our text..

13 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.

14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Moses and the Israelites were about to cross the Red Sea while the Egyptians were after them. The Israelites were all afraid of the incoming danger and massacre should they be caught from behind by their enemies. But the promise of God to them is definite, powerful and very assuring.

However, there are requirements for us to be still in times of trouble, and once we have these in our lives, we can be assured of God’s promises working while we are waiting for His great deliverance.

A “stilled” life is a:

1. Sanctified Life – means “set apart” or declared “holy” or consecrated. To have a stilled life needs to be holy in the sight of God. Let us remember that the Israelites needed to be sanctified by God through the blood of the lamb that was painted or brushed in the doorpost of each of their houses, and they need to eat the remains of the lamb. The process of eating the lamb, and painting its blood to their houses symbolizes the sanctification of God for everyone of them. They were set apart for the deliverance of God because they were sanctified.

Jesus on the cross did the same for us. John 1:29 He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That is why before He was crucified, He allowed His body and blood being symbolized by the bread and the wine to be consumed because of the sanctification that will takes place.

God needs everyone to be righteous so that we can be at still with His promise. God can break any bondage of sin so we can follow Him consistently. We know we can be calm in the presence of God because we carry out His righteousness with us. It is not our own righteousness but its God’s that is why we have that confidence in Him because we know that we are righteous in His sight He will not let us be moved. Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” There are hedges of protection God has placed upon us because of God’s sanctification. There are no condemnation thrown to us by Satan because we are bought with a price, that is why we can be still in His presence.

Illustration:

The story is told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Savior and applied for membership in a local church. "Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your Life?" inquired an old deacon. "Yes, sir," she replied. "Well, are you still a sinner?" "To tell you the truth, I feel I'm a greater sinner than ever." "Then what real change have you experienced?" "I don't quite know how to explain it," she said, "except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved. I'm a sinner running from sin!" she was received into the fellowship of the church, and she proved by her consistent life that she was truly converted.

2. Trusted Life – a stilled life is a life full of trust to His Maker. Moses was full of trust and faith to God when he lead his nation out from bondage. God promised Moses and the Israelites, “don’t be afraid, stand firm, and see His deliverance”. Our trust to God must be not only be felt within (don’t be afraid), but must be reflected with our actions (stand firm) and the way we think and see the outcome of His power (see the Lord’s deliverance)! From these promises, it’s already an assurance that God will deliver us from any impending danger. What we need is only to trust Him and He will do the fighting for us. By being calm and still let us hold that trust to God.