Being Still = Letting God Fight Our Battles

This week in our series we're talking about how being still can mean trusting God to fight our battles. When I’m up against a formidable adversary or circumstance I find myself prone to panic, doubt, fear, frustration, and a deep sense of helplessness.

But as a friend once illustrated to me, God doesn't want His children racing around like a flock of terrified chickens. Instead He gives us a survival guide to follow in His Word. In Exodus 14:14 it says, "But Moses told 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. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still." (NLT).

Let's take that passage apart piece by piece and see what guidance and hope we can find:

"Do not be afraid..." The first step God gives us is to not lose control to fear. God wouldn't give us a command without also supplying the ability to follow it.

There are MANY passages in the Bible that show us we have power over our thought lives, but 2 Corinthians 10:5 sums it up so well: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (NIV).

Here we see that Gods' children are perfectly capable of demolishing anything (like lies) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We are also capable of making our thoughts obedient to Christ. How? I believe the answer is found in the verse right before:

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." ( vs. 4 NIV). The NLT Says "We use God's mighty weapons." A list of God's weapons can be found in Ephesians chapter six. We don't have to be afraid. We have access to God's mighty power to destroy lies and strongholds in our lives.

“Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today…" the second thing Exodus 14:14 tells us to do is stand firm. We already know we have the power to refuse fear that stems from lies. But in order to utilize that power we must choose through an act of our will to stand firm in faith and use the power God gives us not to budge from our hope and trust in Him.

"The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still…" The third and last direction Exodus 14:14 gives us is to be still and let God do the heavy lifting in the circumstance surrounding us.

He calls us to fight the battle of our hearts, but as for the battle going on around us and the circumstances we face—that is something He alone can conquer. He is in control. He is more powerful than any adversary or obstacle we face, and He alone can make it move. He alone can bring us victory. We need only trust in Him, wait on Him to act, and be still.

So let's do a recap. How do we trust God to fight our battles?

1). By choosing not to let fear rule in our hearts and refuting lies with God's truth.

2). By choosing to stand firm on God's truth and His promises by an act of our will.

3). By stilling ourselves and patiently trusting God to fight for us.

Full disclosure: I’m not very good at these things. But God is growing me and teaching me how to rely on Him in the midst of the battles I face. When I become paralyzed by fear He shows me how to remind myself of who He is and how much He loves me, and that helps me to still my heart and trust Him to fight my battles.