Shut Up and Get Moving

Shut Up and Get Moving | Devotional

Moses answered the people, … “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.”

—EXODUS 14:13–15

Today’s Bible reading: Exodus 14

Exodus 14:14 is one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Bible. Most of us, including me, have looked at it as a faith-infusing verse of what we should do when we need help or a breakthrough.

When we’re looking for God to do something big. When we’re waiting to see God bring something new and greater into our lives.

Be still. Let the Lord fight the battle for you. Let go and let God.

In short, do nothing.

There’s just one problem with that: verse 15.
In verse 14, Moses tells the people that God will fight for them and that they are to be still.

But in verse 15, God comes in and immediately contradicts Moses. He doesn’t tell the people to stand still. He tells them to shut up and get moving. Into the sea.

Moses was wrong. In isolation, verse 14 is wrong. Yes, God’s going to fight for them. But it won’t be while they’re standing there and doing nothing. It’s in the parted sea. It’s while they’re moving that God will be fighting.
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Sometimes it can be easy to mistake passivity for patience, laziness for faith.

Sometimes it can be easy to think we should stand still and cry out when God is actually looking for us to shut up and get moving.

Not to do everything on our own, obviously. But to realize that faith isn’t necessarily sitting and waiting for God to do everything on His own for us. God fights while we move.

For example, if you’re unemployed, it isn’t faith for you to stay at home and watch the Food Network while praying during commercial breaks and expecting God to throw a job into your lap. Faith is updating your résumé.

Getting yourself out the door. And applying for jobs. Letting God fight for you in your job search.

You could apply this to pretty much every area of your life. Relationships. Finances. Major life decisions.

Faith isn’t passive. It’s active. If you don’t believe me, read Hebrews 11. I defy you to find one verse that says, “By faith, they watched.” It’s always by faith, they moved. By faith, they did.

That’s because faith is knowing who God is, acting accordingly, and then watching Him act accordingly.

Prayer Focus: Activate your prayer today by praying while you’re in the midst of doing something to fulfill God’s present call in your life.