Fighting for You

Ex 14:13-14
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."

As I read this my eyes welled up with tears. It starts off with the very thing that I need to hear. "Do not be afraid." My mind races of how many times I have made a pun towards those in scripture that were told by an angel who appeared to them, and "don't be afraid." Encounter after encounter this has been said in scripture. But today it is a rhema for me. The Lord is saying to me, "Don't be afraid." The Israelites have just been delivered out of Egypt. The Lord could have taken them another way, but He knew if they had gone through the Philistines’ land they would have gone back to their bondage. Well, He was right. Here they are seeing the Egyptians in pursuit and what do they do? Complain! They allow themselves to be stricken with fear. Moses says, "Don't be afraid."

It seems to me that I can look back and find a lot more comfortable places I have been than I am now. Steady paying jobs and less responsibility. Wow, those were the days. I could pay golf every week. Go hunting anytime I wanted. Buy anything wanted. Who would have ever thought that would be bondage? Maybe not for somebody else, but maybe for me.

Maybe there were things in my life at that time that were my Egypt. Maybe during that time my faith was in bondage. Maybe secretly without me knowing it my spirit was crying out for deliverance. Now I am at a new place. Now I am facing my Red Sea. I look now look back and think, "Wow. Thanks for nothing, God. Why, did you bring me out of the comfort I knew. I could have lived in harmony and peace where I was. I could have done the work You wanted me to do back there. You could have made me successful back there."

There are a lot of issues about looking back.

Luke 9:62
"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Why would I want to go back! Have I seen God do tremendous things? YES! Do I have good memories? YES! But I know there is a new land to where God is taking me, and He can take me there anyway He wants.

So Lord, those times I am at the Red Seas, bitter waters, and vast enemy armies. Let me remember this. "Don't be aftraid." If I have done my part in following Your lead; if I have done my part to keep my spirit and heart right with you…then what do I have to fear? Help me to stand. Help me to stand looking at the great sea before me, with the enemy closing in behind me, and no escape, and not be afraid.