In Exodus 14:14, Moses looks into the eyes of more than 2 million Israelites and tells them, “The Lord will fight for you, you only need to be still!”
This was his response to the shouts of fear after they looked back to see the Egyptian army coming after them. Their only escape was blocked by the Red Sea. (For more of this story, read Exodus 13:17-14:31)
The trust Moses has in the Lord as he and the Israelites are trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian soldiers is profound. Especially when we recall the opposite response speaking with God at the Burning Bush on Mt. Horeb. At that time, Moses provided excuses as to why he was not the right person for the task.
What took place in Moses to allow for this drastic change from his attitude at the Burning Bush to his confidence at the Red Sea?
We ask this question because this is what we want. We want profound trust in God so that we can be still with Him while He fights for us. To grow in this trust, we need to recognize that God is bigger than issues that we could ever deal with. He can handle anything with us and through us.
How Moses Grew in His Trust of God
We already know enough about what God can save us from. We focus plenty on our difficulties, insecurities, fears, disappointments, and losses. We need what took place for Moses to take place for us. How can we follow in his footsteps?
We can imitate Moses by working on the following:
- Speak to God in your heart every day and seek a deeper relationship with Him.
- Remember everything you see God do for you and through you.
This is precisely what Moses did between the moments at the Burning Bush and the Red Sea. He grew in his relationship with God, as Scripture gives us many examples of God and Moses speaking together through prayer. Moreover, Moses pays attention and remembers all that the Lord does for him during this time.
How to Seek A Deep Relationship with God
To seek a deep relationship with God, keep certain steps in mind. These will allow us to meet God and cultivate a relationship with Him.
Some steps that Moses took include:
- Spend time with God in prayer, as Moses did many times after He met God at the burning bush. You can set an alarm on your phone for a dedicated time to spend with God. You can talk to Him like you would your mom or best friend. Or you don’t need to say anything at all. Just carve out ten minutes where you think about God and how He is present to you. Be sure to give Him time to speak to you as well.
- Do hard things for God, just like Moses did in going before the Pharaoh. Tell God you will do it for Him. Just saying that is enough. This will show Him that you love Him and are intentionally seeking Him.
- Learn about who God is. Moses simply asked for God’s Name and was told “I am.” We can ask Him to share with us about Who He Is as well and expect tremendous results. We can also learn about who God is through reading about Him in the Bible.
Remembering What God Does
Remembering what God does is important, because this allows trust to build. When we forget what the Lord has done for us and others then we are more likely to let doubt consume our hearts in the face of difficulty. We need to imitate Moses in every difficulty and recall His saving deeds. For Moses, by recalling these deeds of God, he was able to reassure the Israelites in their distress.
What did God do? It’s more than we realize. It’s more significant than turning Moses’ staff into a snake to devour the snakes of the Egyptian soothsayers, more than turning the Nile to blood, bringing forth swarms of locusts and frogs, blocking out the sun for three days, and all the other plagues. He kept His promise to Moses in helping Him and the Israelites escape. God was faithful.
God showed up in a big way for Moses, which he could not ignore or forget. He saw God’s power and His fidelity to His people. This allowed Moses to trust without a doubt that God would continue His pattern of showing up when asked.
We can apply this same pattern to our own lives. First, because we too are a part of the rich history found in the pages of the Bible. Those are our people from whom we spiritually descend. Second, because we have moments where God has showed up for us as well. It might take some time of reflection, but those moments are there.
Of course, there are times when we feel like God did not show up, when He was not faithful, and this can be very hard to consider. For many of these moments, with more honest reflection, we can discover that by now getting what we wanted, God did show up. That truly it was better for us and we were able to find something greater in the unexpected.
In other moments we can see that for the sake of our free will, God allowed others to choose horrible things that damage themselves and others. God allows this for the sake of free will, and yet will still bring good out of it for the sake of those who are damaged. And this healing is pretty tremendous!
