It’s a dreadful feeling to feel like the walls of life are closing in on you from within and without. I’m a frequent flyer with that emotion because I’ve a constant supply of things on my plate. I’m not the authority of teaching how to prevent it, although in my heart I’m relatively sure I know the answer (God). But my only problem with telling people “no” is that it always comes out of my mouth, “No… I wouldn’t mind.” Followed by the wall of emotion and the thought running through my mind, “What were you thinking!” But then…I finish the task at hand and that oozy goozy feeling that occurs when you’ve helped someone out comes over me and the overwhelmed feeling goes away…until tomorrow.
This morning as I pondered the 20 things I have on my plate and the three I have time for, the verse in Exodus stirred my soul with a word from Heaven. The wall of water for which the children of Israel walked through wasn’t to overwhelm them in its vastness or to create fear; it was to make the way while God held the world in its boundaries. And that became my prayer for today. Lord, keep the world in its boundaries and me on the path.
Exodus 14:13 gives us three points to ponder today if your plate is like mine:
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Fear Not
Fear is a marvelous tool of the Devil to stop you in your tracks. It will put the journey of life on hold. I speak truth because I speak with experience. I’ve had some notions in my noggin for several months of a path I’d like to take, but I’ve allowed fear to stop me. Because it’s a great deal of work, and it’s a path I’ve never trod, it’s had me overwhelmed. I didn’t know where to start, even though God’s said go. I have a feeling when the children of Israel seen the sea before them and the Egyptians closing in behind, their apprehension level soared. What had they done?! They even ask Moses “have you taken us away to die?” At least in bondage they weren’t hunted down! That’s how they felt.
Well, that’s how I’ve felt since I began serving the Lord. Hunted. And Satan is a mighty hunter! But Moses give us the second point to ponder…
Stand Still
What?! With the enemy on our tail and you want us to stand still? That doesn’t work for me Lord. I like and need to be busy doing stuff. That’s my response. But my methodical busy work is often undoing what God is doing. The Lord wanted the Israelites to see that it was He who would make the way to their freedom, if they’d just stand still and not try to make another way. And then those miraculous walls went up! The ground was dry, the path was straight and they were going places! But not until they shushed and let God move.
And See
And so they did. They seen the walls go up and Pharaoh’s army go down. They seen what protected them had destroyed the enemy. That’s exciting news for me today, how about you? Rather than looking at the wall closing in, I’ll just stand still and wait for God to do something amazing!