Standing Firm in Stillness
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. Joshua 6:15-16,20 (NIV)
I have been reflecting about how challenging it is for me to trust God’s promises. If I am honest, I tend to reach for every weapon I have as a first line of offense, and use God as a fall back plan. First I work harder, think of new solutions, throw money at the issue - I reach for every tool I have. Trusting God comes hard for me.
This issue has felt relevant to me in light of Covid-19. So much is unknown. It feels like I’m a little trapped. I have the sense that I can do little very to help. I can look busy, kicking up dirt around me, but I feel helpless. I can’t even protect people I love, let alone visit with them. My normal weapons are useless. I am forced to acknowledge that the control I believe I wield over the universe is illusory. I don’t know that the post-pandemic world will look like.
In light of these uncomfortable realizations, I keep thinking about God’s promise in Exodus 14:14 - The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still. It’s a promise to God’s people during the Exodus when we find the Israelites with a sea in front of them, and an army behind them. Trapped.
Being still in an emergency is anathema to me. In another translation, it reads to be “silent”. Be still, be silent. The Lord will fight for you. What can it mean?
During our parish group last week we talked about God’s promises. I think we somewhat agreed that it’s possible all we are sure of is that in the end God and his people prevail. We are saved by the work of Christ on the cross. I find that some of the other promises can be much more difficult to understand.
That discussion prompted me to reflect this week on what likely is not meant by this promise. I think we see it in Moses’ full response to the Israelites. God is not asking for the silence or stillness of fatalistic resolution. Surely He requires our silence and stillness at times; but he also requires our willingness to fight beside him in co-creation and toward the realization of his justice and grace.
I think the stillness is meant to be inside our often anxious hearts so that our work in God's kingdom can be rooted in the firm confidence of his promised kingdom.
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”