Stand Still and see the Salvation of the Lord
In this story, Moses instructs the Israelites to stand still and see the glory of the Lord. They had fled from the Egyptians, who were now pursuing them. With a great river before them and an Egyptian army behind them, it looked like certain death. Every man, woman, and child was terrified, even Moses.
Moses should have known what to do. It seems that he, too, had some fear because God chastised him, saying, “Why do you cry out to me?” It seems strange that God expected Moses to know what to do, yet he did. Moses had seen God defeat the Gods of Egypt 10 times. God expect him by then to know that God would deliver them from this situation.
God moved behind the Israelites and formed a cloud between them and the armies of Egypt, blocking them from view, while Moses lifted his staff and parted the sea. A wall formed on either side, and they walked across the dry ground. Notice that they didn’t even get their feet or the hems of their garments wet! The ground was dry.
God delivered them completely unhurt and without loss.
As we move into this phase in mankind's history, into a situation none of us are familiar with, we can respond in one of two ways. We can respond in fear, as the Israelites did, or we can respond by looking back at our history, our history with God, and seeing the times he has delivered us in the past and know without doubt that he will deliver us from this situation.
Are you going to respond in fear? The world is saying we are all doomed, we are going to die; it is the end of the world. We can have that at one end of the scale, and at the other end, we can have slight anxiety over the situation; wherever you are on the scale, it is still fear. Some we see are incapacitated by fear; for some, it is displayed in their behaviours, from hoarding supplies to fighting over toilet paper. It is displayed by speaking constantly about the negatives of the situation. It is almost like we take comfort from those around us joining us in our gloom and despondency. We need to be careful as fear breeds fear.
The other option we have is to remain in love. Some say that faith is the opposite of fear but no, it’s love. Love is the opposite of fear. You can embrace fear, or you can embrace love. But you cannot have both. If you embrace fear, you will reject love.
Perfect love casts out Fear 1 John 4:18
The NIV reads There is no fear in love. But perfect love DRIVES out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love
New Living Translation reads. Perfect love EXPELS fear
International Translation reads. Perfect love BANISHES fear
Weymouth Translation reads. Perfect love DRIVES fear away
The point of each of these translations make is that
Perfect love CASTS, DRIVES, EXPELS, BANISHES fear
This season we are in is unprecedented in History we are living in a point of History that years from now will be taught in schools across the world. We will learn valuable lessons on infection control and from this the world will grow in her knowledge that we are all interconnected with one another. 119 countries have been impacted so far in with this virus. We are no longer isolated in our countries but connected. But then as the body of Christ we know this already, for we are one body with many parts.
I do believe that this is a season for shaking the foundations of what we believe and what we put our trust in. The scripture we read at the beginning in Exodus after the sea parted and the Israelites saw the deliverance of the Lord, they feared the Lord and believed. As believers we will find those that are secure and mature in their faith and those that need encouragement to develop their faith.
I talked at the beginning of the year about having a vision. Without a vision, the people perish (Prov 29:18). Was that the title of the message? You can read that in the notes on this page. If you set a vision at the beginning of the year, now is the time to get it out and renew your focus. Was it from God, or did you make it up from your own imagining?
If it was from God, I would be bold to say that this situation would have no effect on the vision God placed in your heart. God’s purpose and vision, which he has for your life, do not change because of some puny virus that man concocted in some laboratory somewhere.
Remind yourself of the end: WE WIN. There will be many battles along the way, and after each battle, we will be stronger. Jesus is still victorious, the devil is still defeated, and we still have all the power and authority in this world. God is saying to us, as he said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me?” In other words, we know what to do; it is now time to start doing it.
Despite what we see going on around us, Christians in this world should be bright beacons of light shining out from the darkness. There is no room for fear to operate in their lives. Perfect love casts out fear.
At the beginning of the year, many Prophetic voices called this year the year of 2020, a nice catchy phrase. The vision I believe God has for this year is to see hundreds and thousands of people come back to him, coming into a deeper and fuller relationship with him. He has that vision every year; this year is no exception.
We will see a massive outpouring of Christianity worldwide in the next few months. Already, we are seeing thousands of sermons being preached online; the church has come out of the building. Over the airwaves and the internet and on every form of social media, the gospel is being preached. Worshipers are worshiping online, and God is being magnified worldwide. I also believe we will see many miraculous healings taking place in the lives of people all over the planet from this virus. Already, testimonies are starting to come out as people put them up on social media.
In this season of isolation with your family, use it as a time to reconnect with each other, study the word together, worship in your homes, and preach to your neighbours from a safe distance. Get online to proclaim the gospel. Love wins. Love casts out fear.
Refocus your goals, do what is important, pray for the supernatural multiplication of food if that is what you need, and be generous, kind, and loving.