When Will the Lord Fight for You?

Exodus 14:14 (ESV)
¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”


The Egyptians are hot on the heals of the Israelis. They have recently escaped the hands of their Egyptian oppressors and are on their way to the Promised Land. Miracles were performed to allow them to leave. The Pharoah has told them to go. He has had not other choice. Ten plagues have come upon his people. The final plague was the losing of the first born of all the Egyptians. His own son is among the dead. He tells them to go but relents when he realizes that he will suffer an economic disaster without his Hebrew slaves. He decides to pursue the Israelis and bring them back.

The Red Sea stands in front of God's people. They can see the Egypian chariots coming from a distance. There is no hope in their eyes for they believe that the army has come to kill them. Thus, they cry out to Moses and blame him and God for their predicament. They couldn't see what Moses had already known.

God will not abandon them after bringing them to this place. He has a purpose in what He is doing. He will fight for them if they don't get in His way. It is hard to silent when all you can see is desruction. They did not realize that God had been fighting for them all along. The circumstances didn't initiate His love nor did they reveal that He had stopped.

The Lord is always fighting for us. Sometimes His fight involves getting us to the place He needs us to be so that He can bless us. Sometimes His fight is against those who want to bring us to despair. Nothing separates us from His love so nothing separates us from His mind and His power. There isn't a moment God is not thinking of us.

My initial question when reading this story was, "Didn't they remember the plagues which God sent for them to be set free?" But then I thought of all the times I have doubted God when a crisis came upon me. I forgot all the other times when He had clearly fought for me. Why did I believe He had stopped simply because my own prediction of the future was hopeless. God never has failed to give me hope before. Why am I hopeless now?

God has never stopped fighting for me or for you. He is fighting right now. You and I need to remember that.