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.
Illustration: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:16-28
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.
28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him,
God is looking for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who will remain righteous and trust in Him in every difficult situation. Being at still is about trusting God without compromising our faith because God will deliver us. The Israelites were ready to surrender to the Egyptians should they be caught but God said NO! The Egyptians you see now you will never see them again, they just have to trust God! We need a trusted life to God so we can be a still life.
God can take away all our worries, insecurities and doubts so long as we believe in Him without compromising our faith.
3. Instructed Life – we can always put our trust and confidence to God especially when we know we have a clear direction and guidance from God. He will always instruct us on how and what to do by giving us His clear and ultimate plan. God’s clear instruction would always lead us to our goodness and righteousness.
Psalm 23:3-4 says”
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Even from our text we can see a clear instruction from God that will develop their trust to God for His name’s sake. He said in verse 13:
a. Don’t be afraid – an instruction to have courage
b. Stand firm – an instruction to have steadiness
c. See the deliverance of the Lord – an instruction to have expectation
d. We only need to be still – an instruction to have confidence
Illustration: Our Testimony how God moved in us by following His instruction to stay in Las Pinas.
A stilled life is a life instructed by God to follow His perfect plan and purpose.
4. Loyal Life – loyalty and faithfulness to God is also another requirements for us to have a stilled life. Yes, we are righteous, trusting and following His plan but the measurement of our Christian walk is about being consistent or being loyal to God and our commitment to Him. The success of a harmonious relationship whether to people and to God is being loyal to each other. No question about God’s faithfulness or loyalty to us but it is us who has the problems keeping our loyalty to God. 2 Timothy 2:13 says “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
We know the story of the Israelites after they successfully crossed the Red Sea, Moses went up to Mount Sinai to get the 10 Commandments in Exodus 32 but when He was about to come down from the mountain, his people become disloyal to him and to God by making a golden calf and made this as their own god. God was burning in anger about their action, yet Moses was able to remind God of His faithfulness to human especially to His own people.
We are often give up on things when it is not on our own liking especially being faithful and loyal to God. Disloyalty and compromise would always be the end result of our actions. But in order for us to have a stilled life, we need to be faithful and loyal to Him as He could not give up on us easily. His faithfulness to us is infinite and His loyalty to His people is consistent infact it is new every morning according to Lamentations 3:22-23:
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Illustration:
Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a DVBS because he was invited by some neighbor children. He went back to the same church for Sunday School classes and each day he was faithfully picked up by a bus driver. Day after day he attended church, but never made a commitment to Christ. Finally, during his senior year in High School, after being picked up for church over 400 times, he did commit his life to Christ. What if that bus driver had given up on Geisler at 395? What if the bus driver had said, "This kid is going nowhere spiritually, why waste any more time on him?"
It is because of God’s faithfulness and loyalty to us that is why we are not consumed evethough we are disloyal to Him most of the time. Great is His faithfulness..
5. Listening Life – the last but one of the most important requirement of having a stilled life is a listening life. There’s just too much noise! There’s just too much movement! Have we ever wondered how some Christians can be going through the worst pain and suffering and still they have joy? It’s because they are being still. They put all their worries in God’s hands. Instead of listening to the noise of your worries, listen to the voice of the Lord. We are not to let our joy come from our circumstances, because circumstances change. The Lord remains the same. The Lord remains loyal, omnipotent, and loving. Allow your joy to come from Christ. Be still, stop paying attention to the storm but just listen to God’s voice.
Someone once said “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” And this is very true, because the more we are exposed to worldly noise, the lesser we can hear the voice of God.
Illustration: Mary and Martha – Luke 10:38-42
38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Most of the time, we are so distracted with things of this world, whether it is blessings of burdens, problems or praise however, we forgot to do one thing in order to be still and be at God’s feet and that is to listen.
Illustration: Elijah and God’s still small voice – 1 Kings 19:11-13a
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
It’s not the strong wind, nor the earthquake, nor a fire that Elijah heard the voice of God, but when there is silence, then he heard the voice of God in a still (calmed) small voice. It’s not even the storm can hinder the power of Jesus when He said to the wind “quiet!” and to the waves “be still!” and only then His disciples experienced peace.
Listen to the voice of God now and He can say to our storms of life to be “still” for He is able to fight for us we only need to be STILL.
Conclusion:
A STILLed Life is a
S-anctified Life
T-rusted Life
I-nstructed Life
L-oyal Life
L-istening Life
