you have only to be silent

‘The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent’


upon hearing this statement I expect to hear a stream of caveats, some hoops to jump through, a ton of prerequisites I’ll never do... Instead, the people are and the LORD does.


This verse comes from the book of Exodus, 14th chapter, verse 14. The scene is God just delivered the former enslaved people, the Hebrews, out of the hand of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh has an ‘Oh crap!’ moment as he realizes he just lost all of his manual labor for his country. So Pharaoh gets all his warriors and they chariot-up and pursue those Hebrews like they just made a ‘yo momma’ joke about Ra or something.

The Hebrews see the cloud of furry with angry faces and swords poking out and deduce that it is coming for them. So naturally they whine and throw some sarcasm at God, ‘Were there not graves in Egypt for us to die in?’ But instead of obliterating his chosen people, God says, ‘Sit down, find your pacifier and watch me work!’

The conclusion is familiar to most. God parts the red sea; the people of Israel make to the other side free of harm; the people of Egypt get eaten by the water.

Wait. So God actually did what he said? Yes. God did what he said.

Sometimes (not all the time or every time) we want to do so much for God because we want to control our lives and destiny so badly. We ask how we can make the best use of the time...... so we do and do and do and do until we run out of energy and die and people praise our legacy for how great we were at being efficient and hard working and dedicated and standing up for Jesus! When sometimes God was saying, ‘Shut up. Sit down. Watch me work.’

‘But GOD!’ we reply ‘Me. I. My. I. Me... you need me in your kingdom!!’

That noise is God laughing.

‘What can we do for salvation?’ The people of Israel cried. Nothing.

‘What can we do for salvation?’ We all cry. Nothing.

It is a great thing that God says to Moses as he did to Adam as he did to Abram as he does for us, ‘I will save you; sit back and enjoy me.’