JUST BE STILL!

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14 NIV).

For the past few years, there's been an ongoing theme in my life. Every time I go to the Lord with a problem or concern, every time I start worrying about something, every time a situation seems too huge for me to understand, the first thing the Lord says to me is "BE STILL."
This is almost an impossible command. I simply can't make my mind be still and forget about all that's going on in my life!

Have you actually ever tried it? I mean, really tried to be truly still? To still your mind from thinking a million different thoughts all at once? I challenge you to pause from reading this devotional and sit in stillness before the Lord for a mere two minutes, right now.
(Seriously, try it before you read on....hard to do isn't it?)

Did you check your watch after 15 seconds? Maybe you made it 30 seconds or even a minute. But, were you really able to get through the entire two minutes without looking at your watch?
Don't worry; you're not the only one who struggles! Even when we have a quiet time in church for prayer time, I know that silence bothers people. Too much silence and people start to get nervous. I have even caught myself on occasion questioning whether the leader fell asleep or something due to the period of silence.

It seems like an easy enough thing to do, doesn't it? To simply stop, be still and cease from all action and thought? But, as we've seen, it's pretty difficult.

Yet, if you can actually become still, your entire perspective changes. Suddenly, God appears huge and whatever you're dealing with shrinks in size.

In Exodus 14, the Israelites had just fled from Egypt, with the Egyptians pursuing closely behind. As the Israelites saw their pursuers quickly gaining on them, they became terrified and cried out to the Lord (v. 10).

Circumstances and their own minds said, "Run for your lives...your pursuers are going to capture you...you're going back into slavery."

But Moses' words told them to do exactly the opposite. "The Lord will fight for you; you need
only to be still" (v. 14).

We have one advantage the Israelites didn't; we know the end of their story. Moses' words were true. The Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea, the Israelites crossed over and the Egyptians drowned in the middle of their pursuit.

Yet, honestly, it's the same for us. We may not know the end of our individual stories, but we know the same God who delivered the Israelites. He's telling us the same thing He told them so many years ago: "I'm in control, even if you don't understand it. You need only to be still."

Learn to let go of the desire to control your life or even the idea that you are in control because in reality, only God is. "Be still and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10 NIV).