The Rock and the Hard Place

I’ll just tell you right up front – this is a message of hope, if you have the guts to endure.  So lace up your shoes and hang on.

There is an amazing little verse in the Bible that says this.

“The Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still.”

~Exodus 14:14

Can you believe that one?  In a society where we are encouraged to fight, to defend our ground, to claim our rights and our place in line, this verse tells us to do exactly the opposite. 

Here is the rest of the story. 

The people of God, the Israelites, are being pursued by the Egyptians all the way to the Red Sea.  They have reached the water’s edge and there is nowhere to go.  They are on the verge of panic and a rebellion.  They only have a small margin of a lead on their pursuers and now this.  It appears a watery grave will be their end.

But wait … there’s more.

Moses, the leader of the pack, stands up and says, “Stop your jabbering.  You just wait and see what happens next.  These pursuers – the Egyptians – will never be heard from again.  The Lord, God himself, will fight for you.  Keep your mouths shut.”

What I really wanted to write was “SHUT UP!”  That is the strong version of what Moses said.  Be quiet.  Calm down.  Be still.  Wait and see.

They had come up against the proverbial rock and a hard place and they didn’t like it one bit. 

Who could blame them?  I wouldn’t like it, and neither would you.

And now comes the part about “The Lord will fight for you.”

He put a dark cloud in front of the Egyptians, and He caused a strong wind to separate the waters of the Red Sea and make a path for His band, the Israelites, to walk through on dry ground. 

You got that?  In other words, God performed one of the most amazing miracles of deliverance the world has ever seen. 

He made a way where there was no way.  He created something out of nothing. 

And they got through.  The Israelites got through to safety.  Look up this passage for yourself and see what happened to the pursuers if you like.  Tonight we are focusing on the miracle of deliverance in the middle of the hard place. 

Exodus 14

Got your hard place?  Don’t know where to turn?  Are you befuddled, confused, out of sorts, disturbed, troubled? 

Maybe God is saying to you and me the same thing.

“I your Lord will fight for you;

you need only to be still.”

~Exodus 14:14

The hard part is for us to be quiet. 

It is called TRUST!

P Michael Biggs

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