As I was skyping my sister tonight and talking to her about our academic frustrations and agony over our future, she gave me this verse to read and ponder upon. She showed me this passage like a 5-year old showing his/her dad their first color drawing of their family. At first I pondered, "Hmmm.. Surely this passage must have some SAT word, convoluted sentence structure, or some sort of hidden metaphor that I'd need to contemplate for hours before I would understand its true meaning. But alas... It were mere 12 words. 12 simple words. As powerful as a classic novel.
This God-breathed scripture comes from Exodus 14:14: The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
To be honest, I first was a little disappointed by the simplicity of the verse. I wondered as to why such a verse would have such a impact on my sister that she would be screaming this verse across skype?
No hidden message. No SAT words. No complex structure. 12 simple words that convey a simple message. Stay still, for God will fight for you. The more I read however, the more I could understand why such a simple verse could have had such an impact on my sister.
Despite my first impression of the verse, as I looked at it and still continue to look at it as I type this blog, I realized how mistaken I was to think that God could only speak his powerful messages via complex passages. I was foolish to have been disappointed by the verse's simplicity; in fact, I should have been thankful that I didn't need a dictionary or a sage to interpret the passage for me. Sometimes, the simplest verse can deliver the mightiest message.
In a world that demands so much from each one of us, in a world that is moving too fast for its own good, in a world where one mistake could make you fall behind others permanently, to be still and let someone else control and fight for your stead... Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
It's hard enough for you to be in control of your life; you'd have to be crazy to let someone run your life. You have an English paper due by next week (yes I do). Some random stranger comes up to you and says, "Here, give me that final paper. I'll finish it and get an A on it for you". Aside from the fact that it'd be cheating, why would you ever let a random person write a paper for you? That person could certainly ruin your paper and most definitely ruin your grade in the class. Of course you'd say no right? (Still ignoring the cheating factor) But what if you discovered that that person was someone famous like Charles Dickens? John Grisham? Would you still say no? What if it were God himself? You probably want to say yes at this point.
It would take an amazing amount of faith and trust to let someone do your work for you. Even if you knew that person well, to let that person take over control would take a lot of trust and faith. But we know who is fighting for us in this passage. We know that the person willing to take over control not just part of our lives, but all of our lives... is Christ. If God is for us and is fighting for us... Then surely who or what, on earth, in heaven, in hell... could get in the way? We need only to be still, and wait upon the Lord and watch Him weave our life story into a masterpiece. If we know for certain that God is fighting for us and we also know that he never fails... then surely, you might want to take that leap of faith and trust that God will handle your problems?
The world throws many things at us that consume us and stress us- academics, corruption, temptations, etc. How are we to handle all of this and remain victorious? How are we to defend against Satan's whispers? The answer is simple: We can't. As mere human beings who have been stained by sin, we simply cannot fight and win this battle against the world and Satan. But we do know someone who can. And that person can handle all that the world and Satan may bombard him with. And that person, our Lord God, is on our side and has declared for all to hear that he is fighting for us. What need for us then to continue to stress and try to control something that which we cannot? Give it all up to God. He will take care of it. Have faith that he will fight and stand triumphant from the beginning to the end. Let God take control of whatever may be stressing, bothering, or aggravating you. Offer it all up to God. Let him fight your battles. All you have to do... is be still.
***P.S.- For those of you who've read this and have enjoyed it, please feel free to share it with others!
For those who continue to read my blog... As always, thank you.
This God-breathed scripture comes from Exodus 14:14: The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
To be honest, I first was a little disappointed by the simplicity of the verse. I wondered as to why such a verse would have such a impact on my sister that she would be screaming this verse across skype?
No hidden message. No SAT words. No complex structure. 12 simple words that convey a simple message. Stay still, for God will fight for you. The more I read however, the more I could understand why such a simple verse could have had such an impact on my sister.
Despite my first impression of the verse, as I looked at it and still continue to look at it as I type this blog, I realized how mistaken I was to think that God could only speak his powerful messages via complex passages. I was foolish to have been disappointed by the verse's simplicity; in fact, I should have been thankful that I didn't need a dictionary or a sage to interpret the passage for me. Sometimes, the simplest verse can deliver the mightiest message.
In a world that demands so much from each one of us, in a world that is moving too fast for its own good, in a world where one mistake could make you fall behind others permanently, to be still and let someone else control and fight for your stead... Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
It's hard enough for you to be in control of your life; you'd have to be crazy to let someone run your life. You have an English paper due by next week (yes I do). Some random stranger comes up to you and says, "Here, give me that final paper. I'll finish it and get an A on it for you". Aside from the fact that it'd be cheating, why would you ever let a random person write a paper for you? That person could certainly ruin your paper and most definitely ruin your grade in the class. Of course you'd say no right? (Still ignoring the cheating factor) But what if you discovered that that person was someone famous like Charles Dickens? John Grisham? Would you still say no? What if it were God himself? You probably want to say yes at this point.
It would take an amazing amount of faith and trust to let someone do your work for you. Even if you knew that person well, to let that person take over control would take a lot of trust and faith. But we know who is fighting for us in this passage. We know that the person willing to take over control not just part of our lives, but all of our lives... is Christ. If God is for us and is fighting for us... Then surely who or what, on earth, in heaven, in hell... could get in the way? We need only to be still, and wait upon the Lord and watch Him weave our life story into a masterpiece. If we know for certain that God is fighting for us and we also know that he never fails... then surely, you might want to take that leap of faith and trust that God will handle your problems?
The world throws many things at us that consume us and stress us- academics, corruption, temptations, etc. How are we to handle all of this and remain victorious? How are we to defend against Satan's whispers? The answer is simple: We can't. As mere human beings who have been stained by sin, we simply cannot fight and win this battle against the world and Satan. But we do know someone who can. And that person can handle all that the world and Satan may bombard him with. And that person, our Lord God, is on our side and has declared for all to hear that he is fighting for us. What need for us then to continue to stress and try to control something that which we cannot? Give it all up to God. He will take care of it. Have faith that he will fight and stand triumphant from the beginning to the end. Let God take control of whatever may be stressing, bothering, or aggravating you. Offer it all up to God. Let him fight your battles. All you have to do... is be still.
***P.S.- For those of you who've read this and have enjoyed it, please feel free to share it with others!
For those who continue to read my blog... As always, thank you.
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