The Lord Will Fight for You

Posted On February 19, 2023

“As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.”

Exodus 14:10 NIV

When we feel trapped by obstacles ahead of us and enemies behind us, what do we do? How do we save ourselves when we see no way forward? Sometimes the answer is simply to be still and let God do the fighting for us.

Our plan for 2023 is to journey through The NeverEnding Story of the Bible and discover how we fit into it along the way. Our plan for this year is loosely based on The Story, an abridged chronological version of the Bible, and the accompanying study guide The Heart of the Story by Randy Frazee.

Here is where we are in The Story:

MOVEMENT TWO: The Story of Israel (Genesis 12-Malachi)

Chapter 4 – Deliverance

This chapter in The Story includes Exodus 1-7, 10-17. Last week we saw Moses answer God’s call to rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. This week we continue the story of the deliverance of God’s chosen people.

God sent Moses to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, with a message to let His people go. But God also told Moses that Pharaoh would refuse to listen. Sure enough, after several catastrophic plagues unleashed by God, Pharaoh still wouldn’t budge…

“Now the Lord had said to Moses, ‘I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.'”

Exodus 11:1 NIV

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

Exodus 12:12-13 NIV

God warned Moses that He would unleash His power on Egypt in a terrible way, and He gave strict instructions for the Israelites. They were to slaughter a flawless lamb and smear the blood across the doorposts of their homes to keep them safe from the final plague.

“The tenth plague is both devastating and revealing, God tells Moses that at midnight, his angel will sweep through the entire kingdom of Egypt and take the life of every firstborn male. However, this angel of death will ‘pass over’ any home that has the blood of an unblemished lamb brushed across the doorframe.”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

God also established specific procedures for the Passover meal: “This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover…. This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.” (Exodus 12:11, 14 NIV) God was working out His plan to rescue Israel in a dramatic way, but He also had a bigger picture in mind. He was foreshadowing the way He would rescue all of mankind through the blood of His flawless Son.

“At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.”

Exodus 12:29-30 NIV

Moses’ story began in Exodus 2 when he was a baby being hidden away to protect him from the previous Pharaoh’s brutal kill order. I imagine there was “loud wailing in Egypt” back then, too, by the Israelites whose babies had just been murdered. I’m sure they cried out to God and wondered if He cared. They may have questioned if He saw their suffering. Here we see that He did. God hadn’t forgotten what had been done to them at the hands of the Egyptians. Many years later, God has turned the tables by giving Egypt a tragic taste of their own medicine. And in the process, God has finally broken Pharaoh’s stubborn heart.

“So on that fateful night, all the firstborn sons of Egypt, including Pharaoh’s son, die as the appointed angel makes his rounds. However, the Hebrew sons are saved because Moses has instructed God’s people to apply the blood of a lamb to their doorposts. Jews today still celebrate Passover. And as followers of Jesus Christ, we get a sneak peek at the way in which God will fulfill the need for a perfect, unblemished Lamb in order to provide the blood of salvation over the doorposts of our lives….

Ironically, the edict that Pharaoh unleashed on the Hebrew baby boys at the beginning of the story is reversed and unleashed on his people at the end of the story. In the wake of such intense loss, Pharaoh says, ‘Go!'”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

Unfortunately, Pharaoh’s change of heart didn’t last long: “When word reached the king of Egypt that the Israelites had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. ‘What have we done, letting all those Israelite slaves get away?’ they asked. So Pharaoh harnessed his chariot and called up his troops.” (Exodus 14:5-6 NLT)

“As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, “Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!”‘”

Exodus 14:10-12 NLT

So, here we find the Israelites in a terrifying situation. They had to be completely confused and understandably shaken at this point. After all the dramatic plagues and the detailed Passover instructions and their hasty escape in the middle of the night, God leads them not directly out of town, but in a roundabout way into the wilderness, straight toward the Red Sea. Their faith was being tested in the extreme. As they see the Egyptians quickly approaching, they have reached their breaking point and panic sets in.

“Trapped against the sea, the Israelites faced the Egyptian army sweeping in for the kill. The Israelites thought they were doomed. After watching God’s powerful hand deliver them from Egypt, their only response was fear, whining, and despair. Where was their trust in God? Israel had to learn from repeated experience that God was able to provide for them. God has preserved these examples in the Bible so that we can learn to trust him the first time. By focusing on God’s faithfulness in the past, we can face crises with confidence rather than with fear and complaining.”

Chronological Life Application Study Bible

I don’t know about you, but I can definitely relate to the Israelites here! I am very bad at remembering to trust God when I see a scary situation right in front of me. Yes, God had done miracles right before their eyes, but would He do so again? They had no choice but to wait and see. There was no way out of their predicament unless God intervened.

The thing is, though, that He had promised to save them, so they really had no reason to fear. God had even given Moses a heads-up that Pharaoh’s pursuit of them was all part of His plan, because God wanted to show the Egyptians once and for all that He was in charge (Exodus 14:1-4).

“You may be up against a wall with enemies breathing down your neck. You have cried out to God, but it does not seem like He heard you, because nothing has changed. Things may have gotten worse. Be still a minute. Quiet your heart. Take a deep breath. Remember the Israelites and be reassured in your mind that He has heard your cry too.”

Faith Blatchford, God of Wonders

God had something in mind that none of them could have possibly imagined. So the Israelites could have saved themselves a lot of worry and grief if they had leaned into their faith, trusted God’s promises, and waited with a sense of awe to see the miracle that would unfold before them…

“As we wait and pray, God weaves His story and creates a wonder.
We are learning to watch for the story to unfold, to wait for the wonder.”

Paul E. Miller

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.”

Exodus 14:21-22 NIV

We all probably know the story by now, but let’s try to put ourselves in the place of the Israelites that night. They are trapped. They have seen miracles, and they have trusted God to get them this far, but now it looks like all is lost. They are ready to give up and go back to a life of slavery in Egypt. Then suddenly, the wind begins to blow. They look toward the sea and see Moses stretching out his hand over the water. What is happening? they must be wondering. Then they see. The water is parting before them. God is making a way where none existed before. What an amazing sight it must have been!

“Out of God’s great love for Israel, He fights for them. And when God makes war, He wins. He has solutions we can’t even conceive of — who would even think to pray for a path through the sea? That military strategy doesn’t exist. But our warrior God wages His own kind of warfare. He fights for us against all the things that threaten our relationship.”

Tara-Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap

God fights for us. What He did then, He still does now. He makes a way where none existed before. The lesson for me in all of this is that God will accomplish His plan no matter what. And sometimes He does so in a spectacular way so that His glory is revealed. Rather than being filled with fear and doubt when we face an impossible situation, we can choose to lean into our faith, trust God’s promises, and wait in awe for the miracle that may unfold before us!

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Exodus 14:14 NIV

This week’s Scripture passages remind us to put our trust in God because He fights for us and He is with us wherever we go. And as followers of Christ, we have God’s Spirit living in us, which means we have direct access to God’s miraculous strength and power. The Lord hears us when we cry out to Him. He will not abandon us, and He always keeps His promises. So, when trouble comes and there’s nothing we can do but trust God to deliver us, let’s choose to still our worried thoughts, quiet our anxious hearts, and wait with wonder to see what God will do!

“When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

Exodus 14:31 NLT

References:

• Blatchford, Faith. God of Wonders: 40 Days of Awe in the Presence of God. Chosen, 2021.
• Chronological Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 2012.
• Cobble, Tara-Leigh. The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible. Bethany House, 2020.
• Frazee, Randy.  The Heart of the Story: Discover Your Life Within the Grand Epic of God’s Story. Zondervan, 2017.
• The Prince of Egypt. Dir. Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells. DreamWorks Pictures, 1998.
• The Story: Read the Bible as One Seamless Story from Beginning to End. Rev. ed., Zondervan, 2008.
• “The Prince of Egypt OST – Final Song ‘Finale Reprise’ by Hans Zimmer.” YouTube, uploaded by liteonmx, 5 July 2014, https://youtu.be/pb7PigZ8bY4.

Images:

• Featured image, Passover image, and Pharaoh image taken from “The Prince of Egypt (1998) – Smiting of the First Born Scene (7/10) | Movieclips.” YouTube, uploaded by Movieclips, 18 April 2019, https://youtu.be/HXmru6NrSAY.
• All other images taken from “The Prince of Egypt (1998) – Parting the Red Sea Scene (9/10) | Movieclips.” YouTube, uploaded by Movieclips, 18 April 2019, https://youtu.be/TzRrEgkfhG8.