What do you do when you’re going through a really tough time? When there are no good options? When all you see is discouragement and doubt in front of you? You’ve got three options:
1. Give up and retreat
That’s what the Israelites wanted to do when they were trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea: “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Ex 14:12). Following God is hard!
Maybe when you go to church, you look around and say to yourself, “Well, maybe some of those people can trust God and stay faithful to God … but not me.” You’re tempted to retreat, and go back to the old habits and patterns and attitudes you had before God started to rescue you. Back to what’s familiar.
Or maybe you don’t retreat, you just lay down and give up. You’ve been fighting for so long, and you’re so tired. You say, “God, my marriage stinks, but I just don’t care anymore. I’m just too tired to keep fighting.” … “God, I’ve been working so hard to honor you at work, but it’s getting me nowhere. I’m just too tired to keep fighting.”
2. Rush ahead to rescue yourself
“I’m trapped between an army and an ocean? I’ll just start building a bridge across the ocean! I’ll rescue myself! Nobody’s looking out for me, but me, so so I gotta do something. Now! I’ve just gotta get busy.”
But facing problems in life is like being stuck in quicksand. The more you panic and kick, the farther down you sink. Many of us just want to get busy and DO something when we’re in trouble, but that almost never makes things better. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Every experienced man knows that by being wrongly busy for one hour, he may make mischief which a lifetime would hardly rectify.” In other words, in one hour, you could get yourself into so much trouble that you wouldn’t be able to fix it in an entire lifetime.
3. Stand still and watch God
When the Israelites were trapped between the Egyptians and the sea, God had specific instructions for them: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Ex. 14:13-14).
Don’t rush off on your own. Stand firm! Don’t retreat into your old habits. Stand still! Don’t lay down and give up. Stand!
Paul gave us similar instructions in Ephesians 6: “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything … to stand” (Eph. 6:13). Put on the armor of God as if you’re getting ready for battle … and then stand to watch him fight the battle for you!
Even if you need to stand there for a loooooong time. In Exodus, God delivered the Israelites by miraculously parting the Red Sea, so they could walk across the seabed. And it specifically says God drove the sea back by a strong East wind all night. The Israelites were on the West side. If it was an East Wind, that means God was starting on the opposite side of the sea. They had to stand there and watch while the sea slowly divided from the other side, until the dry land finally got to their side. All the time, the Egyptians were breathing down their necks.
When God delivers you, it will never be on your own timetable. You’ll always have to wait longer than you wanted to. But you will be rescued.
“The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen!” (2 Tim 4:18)