Scripture reading: Exo 14:12
The former quick-tempered Moses patiently answered the people's hasty accusation with three directives to meet this emergency:
(1) "Do not be afraid" The word to the patriarchs, Gen 15:1; 26:24; and to Israel as they possessed the land, Josh 1:9; 8:1)
(2) "Stand firm" and see the salvation, i.e., the "deliverance of the LORD" for "the LORD will fight for you" (v.14; see Neh 4:20; Ps 35:1)
(3) "Hold thy peace”. Stop all action and become inactive, for I the Lord will act by myself on your behalf (cf. Gen 34:5; 2 Kings 19:11; Pss 5:3; 83:1).
“For it had been better for us to serve -- the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” This complaint is the first occurrence of what was to become a sad refrain over the next forty years. Instead of believing that the God who had demonstrated his power so overwhelmingly could now save them, the Israelites turned on their rescuer. The cry of the unsurrendered heart is always, “Give me the security of slavery rather than the risk of faith.”
Let us study HEB 4 for deeper insight into the 3rd action “Hold they peace”
but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. v2 This is reference to the condition of many Christians, hearing the Word, but not acting on it. Faith is the substance. Heb 11:1. Faith without works is dead, but works without faith is also dead. James 2:17
Study So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” Heb 4:3 Was God’s judgement against Israel’s continual unbelief. They shall not enter the promised land. Deut. 1:35
Today, if you will hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Ps. 95:8:11
How did they test God? By their constant murmuring and complaining. Faith begins in your words. God spoke the earth into existence. If you speak against the very thing you believe, you cancel your faith. Stop complaining, self-pity will not move God. Faith pleases Him Heb 11:6
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. v11
The KJV uses the word Labor instead of being diligent. 4704. sp??d??? spoudázo; fut. spoudáso, from spoud? (G4710), earnestness, diligence (2 Pet. 1:5). To be diligent, earnest, or eager. (I) Generally, with the inf. (2 Tim. 4:9, 21; Titus 3:12). (II) To make every effort to do one's best, to be eager, with the inf. (Gal. 2:10; Eph. 4:3; 1 Thess. 2:17; 2 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 4:11; 2 Pet. 1:10, 15; 3:14; Sept.: Is. 21:3). THUS You cannot entertain unbelief for one second. It is a parasite, it is poison, it is cancer, you need to deal with it quickly.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb 4:11-13 Learn to wield the “sword of the spirit” Eph 6:17 like a master swordsman. Jesus masterfully endured the direct satanic temptation by saying. “It is written”
The Word will answer, heal, silence the distortions and upset of the heart. Phil 4:6-8 Garrison the heart with peace. You need to master the art of holding your peace. Do not react, do not act hastily. To keep your peace, in the midst of a crisis takes considerable effort and maturity in Christ. Jesus kept His peace being imprisoned beaten martyred, falsely accused, not being recognized for all the good He did, blasphemed, slandered and rejected.
This rest of faith, is how we battle and fight in the spirit. We fight with rest. You need to contend for this rest. You have received it, now learn to keep it. Do not let anything move you out of this save place in God. He will fight for you, He will defend you. The battle is the Lords. Finally the people were instructed to move forward. This rest is not doing nothing, it is to continue to do what you were told. Move in the rest of faith. Walk on dry land, through the red sea. Some question the depth of this sea, nevertheless it was a miracle, for if it was not so deep, how did the Egyptians drown?
God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. Move forward in faith.
