By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
Last week I wrote about the often quoted verses that say “Be still” and how hard that is on me based on my basic personality type.
When I read about Martha and Mary, I readily identify with Martha. “Come on guys, there’s work to be done!”
If Jesus was in front of you, would your first thought be to make everything perfect or to stop and spend time with the Savior?
For me, that’s a no-brainer: He and his friends are going to be thirsty and hungry! Let’s get that taken care of, then we can relax and talk with him. Our job one is to meet his needs.
It pains me to see Jesus tell Martha that she rather missed the mark on that one. That she should have put her relationship with him first like her sister did.
I joke here but that sounds like a typical man. Let’s do this; we’ll worry about that other later. Yeah, well, the other will be that much harder later if we don’t get started on it now. Right, Ladies?
This whole “Be still” thing is just hard. This past Sunday, my pastor, Matt Weaver, pointed out that “Be still” is not always the way God wants to handle things. Thank you, Pastor Matt.
In Exodus 14, when the Israelites were confronted with the Red Sea in front of them and the army of Pharaoh coming up on their rear fast, Moses told them: “…Do not be afraid.
Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (vv. 13-14) Or, in other words, “stand still and let God.”
But, look what God says: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.’” In other words, Moses, you blew this one.
Get up and get them going! Standing still is not where the glory of God is going to be found this time. It is going to be parting the Red Sea.
And the result: they were now moving toward the promised land, they were victorious over Pharaoh and his armies, the people in Canaan would hear about this and be afraid of the Israelites (Rahab to the two spies) when they eventually crossed over into the land the Lord had given them and, most of all, v. 31 says “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”
They went from complaining about leaving Egypt and captivity out of fear, to seeing God’s hand of protection and learning to trust Him. That lesson should have held with them. Unfortunately, it did not.
And when they first prepared to take Canaan, they backed away from fear of the size of the people in Canaan. Completely forgetting what God had recently done for them.
I guess I said all that to justify my personality. Or, more hopefully, to point out that we need to find where the Lord is going to be glorified in a situation and when we find that glory, act accordingly… stand still or move forward. So that God gets ALL the Glory from our lives on earth.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.
