Letting God Fight Your Foes

You may have heard the famous quotation from Exodus 14:14, which says the lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.

This verse has become popular as a way to uplift and encourage people in difficult times, and it is certainly true. However, many people find it challenging to accomplish that second part— being still. When we are faced with troubles and the pressures of life, we often feel compelled to act, to do something to try and resolve the situation. To use our knowledge, our skill, our power… but if I have the choice of me fighting for me or God fighting for me, I’m going to choose God all day long.

So today, I invite you to explore with me, how to allow God to fight your foes.

What Being Still Means

The obvious question to start with, is if The Lord fights for you when you are being still, what does “being still” actually mean? We can get some more detail by looking at Isaiah 30:15, where God says:

“For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.”

So let’s unpack this… God says here In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.

The word for “rest” here means quiet. As in quietness of emotions and attitude. In other words— having peace in your mind  and thoughts. It’s striking that God says here, even in the Old Covenant that salvation does not come from laborious efforts, or works of one’s strength, but through rest.

And in Matthew 111:28, Jesus says plainly Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will bring you rest.

Being still doesn’t mean that everything around you is always quiet… but that you are quiet in that situation. You are the peaceful one, because the Lord of peace has placed His Spirit in you. This theme can be seen repeatedly in scripture, such the three men in the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:8— a terrible situation to be sure… yet they emerged unharmed, because Jesus was there. Of course, the disciples in the boat on the turbulent waters in Matthew 8:23, and while the disciples weren’t peaceful, Jesus was, and He went as far as to ask them? “Why were you afraid?/Why did you doubt?”

This question posed by Jesus to His disciples, speaks to the confidence being alluded to from our text of Isaiah 30:15.  Most people might retort— why shouldn’t I be afraid?! Don’t you see what’s going on around me?!

But that’s precisely the point…The men thrown in the fiery furnace certainly could’ve said that same thing, but they had confidence in God’s protection. 

Jesus, was asleep in the boats as the storm was raging. He didn’t calm the wind and waves for safety’s sake, He did it because of the fragility of the disciples. They were never in any danger, just as the men in the furnace were never in any danger. Notice in the scripture God never put the fire out, He didn’t need to because He’s Lord over it, and demonstrated such by showing up in the furnace with the three men and escorting everyone out completely untouched.

Being Still in Christ

Philippians 4:6-7 says the following:

“⁶ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

⁷ And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Please pay special attention to the order, and the details in these two verses. First be careful for nothing. In other words, do not be full of cares, worry, or anxiety. Then, once you have eliminated the anxiety, prayer with thanksgiving. It’s not possible to do the second thing without the first thing.

Some of you know my testimony regarding fear— how I used to be extremely fearful of food. It caused me a lot of anxiety; I would constantly worry about what I was eating, so much so that I could never enjoy a meal, and I became anorexic. I would lay awake at night with anxiety about the little I had eaten that day. But in hypocrisy I would still thank the Lord before eating.

Then one day, I heard God say to me “Do you know why you say thanks before eating?” And, perplexed I really didn’t have an answer. “Because I’m supposed to be thankful?” I replied, somewhat questioning my own answer.

What I heard God say next, hit deep… How can you be thankful if you believe the food is harmful?

And that, my friend, is the point of Philippians 4:6-7, and our study today. The confidence, the stillness, the peace, must come from our knowing that God is good. I couldn’t be thankful for my food, because I didn’t really know that God was good back then. I said the thank you prayer before a meal, as a ritual, a learned behavior, nothing more. There was no substance behind it. And fear dominated my life.

Today, whatever you are facing, the key to fighting, is the same as the men in the fiery furnace, the Jesus in the boat, and even myself with fear, to be still in knowing that God is good — not as an acceptance of the situation, but as the solution out of it. This is not some kind of strange Christian passivity, but stepping aside so that God can step in-front.

I hope this has encouraged you today. And I look forward to thriving with you again.

Be blessed.