But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the LORD’s salvation. He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you must be quiet.”
Exodus 14:13-14 HCSB
I pulled this passage from Exodus, but I could have pulled a similar passage from a number of sources in the Bible. You see throughout the Bible there is a recurring theme that we would do well to understand. As you read through the Bible, you see a pattern. People rebel against the Lord and sin. The Lord brings judgment. The first we see of this is Adam and Eve, then Cain when he murders his brother Abel. The world got so wicked and corrupt in Genesis 6 that God brought the flood. He found favor in Noah and saved him and his family by having him build the ark and bringing the animals aboard in order to repopulate the earth.
Over and over and over again, we see that those who oppose the Lord or fall into idolatry or any type of unrepentant sin bring judgment upon themselves. Those who walk with the Lord and love Him with all their heart, soul, and mind and do their best to obey His commands do well. Oh, they may face hard times, but God is right there with them. A prime example of this is in the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been taken captive in a land filled with pagans. They remained true to God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace for their devotion to the Lord. But that’s okay, before it was over there were four men walking around in those flames and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego escaped without even having the smell of smoke on them.
Daniel was placed in the Lion’s Den for the night for his devotion to the Lord. God shut the mouths of those Lions and Daniel spent the night in there unharmed.
God takes care of His people. He punishes those who go against His children. Following our scripture passage in Exodus, Pharaoh and his men went in after the Israelites and God drowned them in the same sea that the Israelites had just walked through on dry land. I want you to think of someone harming your child or your loved one. Think of how angry you would be. Well, imagine how angry God must be when someone goes against His child or children. Throughout the Bible we see Him bringing severe punishment on those who go against His children. But, we must understand that when His children misbehave we will face punishment as well. We serve a just God. Just because we are one of His children doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. We are required to do things His way. We are required to obey His commands.
My husband is the history buff in the family, I’m not so interested in it. But, the history in the Bible fascinates me. I read about those poor Israelites. They follow this same pattern over and over again. They love the Lord, they mess up and sin and go against the Lord, the Lord punishes them, they cry out, God delivers them and they do well for a while only to mess up again. Does that sound familiar to you? It does to me. It’s the story of my life. It took me many years to learn to just put God first and leave Him there. I finally realized that if I wanted Him to fight my battles that I had to give it all over to Him. I had to completely surrender to Him and submit to Him.
If you haven’t learned that yet, I feel sorry for you. I hope that you will get with the program. I thank God that He was patient with me and I had time to get it together. I don’t know how much time any of us have now. I just know that when we surrender to Him we need not be afraid. God will take good care of us. But woe unto those who live in unrepentant sin. Know that it will not go unpunished. I pray that you will turn to Him today before it’s too late. I pray that you will trust in the Lord and love Him with all you’ve got. No one deserves our love more.
Trust in Him today, tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you are tired of fighting, just stop. Be still and see His salvation. Be quiet and listen to Him. Trust in Him. He won’t let you down.
Have a great day!