Giving God a Little Space to Fight

I found myself reading a section in Exodus 14 as I was getting ready to write my weekly letters to my teenagers (I put a mailbox in their rooms and it helps keep me from lecturing to their face quite so much, and since I usually include either a coupon to do one of their chores, or maybe their favorite lip balm or their favorite candy bar, it helps motivate them to read it.) 

Back to Exodus -I have to say that the escape of the children of Israel is one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament.  Talk about a great action adventure! You’ve got children of Israel fleeing for their lives after escaping the bondage of Egypt. They’ve been led and spared in miraculous ways and then . . . this. The soldiers are coming up hard and fast from the rear and in front of them is a seemingly impossible blockage- the Red Sea. I bet they were thinking, “Really?"  "After all this we are to be slaughtered in the middle of nowhere or drowned?” Or maybe, “what kind of a prophet gets us into this kind of death trap situation?”  Here's what it says. in Exodus 14:14-15:

14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

15 ¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

I think I'd probably be hyperventilating right about then and who knows what kind of panicked words would be escaping my mouth.  They were probably vocalizing these fears and doubts as well, since the Lord tells them to "hold their peace" (that is a god-like way of saying, “shut up and stop griping").  

But the promise is that God will fight their battle. All he requires is that they stop complaining and “go forward”.  Of course we know how this story turns out and anxiously await the miraculous finish where they cross on dry ground and their enemy is drowned. But for them, the anxiety of not knowing the end was very real. Still, they chose to obey and go forward following their prophet. 

What are our Red Seas and what enemies is God waiting to fight and eliminate? Perhaps some Red Seas include loss, grief, heartache, illness, disease, divorce, depression or other mental/emotional illness, and all sorts of wrenching-recovery. As a mother, I can guarantee you that some of my Red Seas involve watching my kiddos struggle through some of these issues.  All He needs me to do is to stop griping and whining and “go forward”. Maybe the ground will be dry and easy, and more likely it will be muddy.  Very possibly I will be required to swim or struggle to build a tight-like-a-dish boat to cross the challenging Red Sea in my life that is blocking my progress and happiness.  

The point is that going forward isn't just required, it is a prerequisite for God to fight our battles. We must cross that battle field with faith and move on out of the way so that we allow Him the spiritual space in our hearts to fight our enemies. He couldn’t drown the soldiers if the children of Israel were still hanging around on the shore or dallying in the sea-bed feeling sorry for themselves and their plight. Just as their going forward gave God the physical space to drown the Egyptian soldiers (which I think was His way of giving them a hard reset so they could progress spiritually on the other side of the veil), we need to keep moving forward taking whatever steps of progress lie within our power so that we create the spiritual space for God to fight our enemies.

For me, giving up the tendency to whine and look back with longing at destroyed dreams are some of the hardest ways to give spiritual space as I move forward. Stop griping and follow the prophet - there’s my lesson. It amazes me how God provides so many scriptures with my name on it.  I need to take a lesson and give God some space to fight my battles.