Another One Comes Up...

Day one hundred twenty-four


Each night, before family prayer, my family discusses what we have going on for the next day.  We do this so that we know what to include in our prayers, maybe one of us needs some extra blessings, so a special request might be made on their behalf. Last night my husband brought up the fact that he has a big presentation he has to do today and could really use all the support he could get.  My eldest son gave the prayer and did a beautiful job of requesting some divine help for his father.  I was still thinking about what a blessing it is to have moments like this in my family when I woke up this morning.  My morning prayer included gratitude for having the gospel in my home and the Spirit that it brings, and a special request that all the things my son prayed for in his father's behalf would come through today. 
 Exodus 14

One of the frustrating things in this life is the fact that just when you overcome one trial, another one comes up!  And often the new trial is even more difficult to get through than the last.  This is where the Israelites find themselves in Exodus 14.

They have just overcome their life as slaves to the Egyptians, the Lord in the form of a pillar of a cloud or of fire is leading them along, and then they "lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them" (Ex 14:10).  Needless to say they panic a little and take it out on Moses by saying:

"Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?" (Ex 14:11)

Basically, they are saying, "Why have you led us out of Egypt to bring us here to die"? Then they top it off with, "For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness" (Ex 14:12).

I don't blame them for having these thoughts, I have been just as guilty of going into panic mode during the onslaught of trials that sometimes come up in my life.  I am still working on the ability to exercise enough self-control to completely trust the Lord. 

Moses on the other hand is as cool as a cucumber, he doesn't even get angry with the Israelites, he calmly responds with:

"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.  The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace" (Ex 14:13-14).

My sons would describe this as one of Moses' most 'epic' statements, I think I would have to agree.  These verses could be titled How to Face Your Trials in 50 Words or Less!  Let's pull out each step:

Fear not
Why should we fear not? "fear not, for I am with thee", (Gen 26:24; Isa 41:10). The Israelites literally had the presence of God with them in the pillar and still felt fear.  It is no wonder that those who have not had such manifestations should also feel fear.  There is something about fear that quickly erases our ability to remember that God is with us. How do we remember that God is with us?  Moses gives us an answer in the next step.

 
Stand Still
How in the world will standing still help us remember that God is with us and we need not fear?  Usually when we stand still we take a moment to think, to pull ourselves together, and to come up with a plan.  When God asks us to stand still there is a greater purpose: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10; D&C 101:16).  This is not just being physically still, but standing still spiritually too, giving the Spirit the time to testify to us that the Lord is with us.  When we recognize that feeling and know that God is with us, then it is natural that the fear inside us will diminish.

See the Salvation of the Lord
Now that we know that the Lord is with us we need to take the time to see the events unfolding through His eyes.  We do this by allowing the power of the Spirit to open our eyes and  enlighten our understandings, so as to see and understand the things of God. (D&C 76:12).  This is when we start to understand that God has a plan for our lives, we recognize God in the details of our earthly journey, and we start to understand that all that God puts in our lives is for our benefit.  We learn to ask ourselves what am I supposed to learn from this experience? 

The Lord will fight for you
There are times in the scriptures when the Lord literally takes care of the enemy like swallowing up the Egyptian army in the Red Sea (Ex 14:26-30) or opening up the ground so that the wicked fall in (Num 16:30-35), but there is more to it than that.  When you look at footnote 14a in this verse it leads you to the Topical Guide (TG) for Divine Protection.  You find words like shield, fortress, preserve, save, and always with you under this heading.  It is more than a one time event, it is a lifetime blessing.

Hold your peace
The Lord is telling us that we should hold back on judging the situation because we don't have all the information.  The Lord has stated: "hold your peace until I shall see fit to make all things known unto the world concerning the matter" (D&C 10:37).  He is all knowing, not us, so we need to trust His assessment, not ours.

The Israelites needed this experience to grow.  Verse 31 tells us that through this experience "the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses."  We all need our trials in life so we can learn love, faith, and trust in the Lord. He will not give up trying to teach us until we have mastered the lessons.  We are not the fastest learners but we can make it a little easier on ourselves, the key is to remember Moses' words the next time another trial comes up!