The Uselessness of Panic: God Fights for You
Introduction: The Divine Pincer Movement
We come this morning to one of the great dramatic moments in all of Scripture. Israel is in a vise. Behind them, the dust cloud of Pharaoh's chariots, the most sophisticated and terrifying military machine on the planet. In front of them, an impassable body of water. On either side, the wilderness closes in. From a purely human standpoint, this is the end of the story. It is a divine checkmate. And we must be very clear about this: God engineered the entire affair. He is the grand strategist behind this impossible situation. He told Moses exactly where to camp, knowing full well it was a tactical dead end (Ex. 14:2). He hardened Pharaoh's heart for this one last glorious confrontation (Ex. 14:4).
God does not simply rescue His people from trouble; He frequently leads them right into it. He does this to strip away every ounce of our self-reliance, to expose the utter bankruptcy of our own strength, and to display His glory in such a way that no man can take the credit. He puts His people in a position where the only possible explanation for their deliverance is God. This is a lesson our cushy, therapeutic, modern church desperately needs to learn. We want a God who makes us comfortable, who smooths our path, who acts like a celestial butler. The God of the Bible is a warrior who leads His people into the thick of the fight, precisely so He can win it for them.
The scene before us is a microcosm of the Christian life. You have the world system, represented by Egypt, in hot pursuit. You have the seemingly insurmountable obstacle, the Red Sea. And you have the people of God, caught in the middle, reacting with a very predictable blend of panic and petulance. Their response, and Moses' faithful counter-response, teaches us a fundamental lesson about the nature of our salvation. It is a salvation that is accomplished for us, not by us. It is a salvation that requires not our frenzied activity, but our silent trust.
The Text
Now Pharaoh drew near, and the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very afraid; so the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh. Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done against us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than for us to die in the wilderness." But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of Yahweh which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. Yahweh will fight for you, and you will keep silent."
(Exodus 14:10-14 LSB)
The Anatomy of Unbelief (v. 10-12)
We begin with the entirely predictable reaction of the Israelites.
"Now Pharaoh drew near, and the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very afraid; so the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh." (Exodus 14:10)
They lifted up their eyes and saw the problem. This is the root of all spiritual panic. Their fear was a direct result of their focus. They had just witnessed ten plagues that systematically dismantled the entire Egyptian pantheon. They had seen the power of God humiliate the most powerful man on earth. They had walked out of Egypt laden with the wealth of their former masters. They were being led by a pillar of cloud and fire. But the moment they saw the dust of the chariots, all of that was forgotten. Their theology became dictated by their circumstances, which is the very definition of unbelief.
They "cried out to Yahweh." This might sound pious, but the context reveals it was not the cry of faith. It was the shriek of terror. It was the cry of accusation, as the following verses make plain. This is the kind of "prayer" that is actually an insult to God, a prayer that says, "Why have you gotten me into this mess?" It is a cry that questions God's goodness and competence. It is the foxhole prayer of a man who only calls on God when he wants to be bailed out, not because he loves and trusts Him.
Their panicked cry quickly curdles into bitter accusation.
"Then they said to Moses, 'Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done against us in bringing us out of Egypt?'" (Exodus 14:11)
Notice the biting sarcasm. "Were there no graves in Egypt?" This is the voice of utter contempt. Unbelief is never just a quiet, intellectual disagreement with God; it is insolent. It mocks God's appointed leader and, through him, mocks God Himself. They accuse Moses of malice, of bringing them out to the wilderness for the express purpose of killing them. This is what fear does: it twists reality. They were delivered from the house of bondage, where Pharaoh had been systematically murdering their male children, and now they accuse their deliverer of wanting them dead. They have exchanged the reality of God's miraculous salvation for a fantasy of Moses' murderous intent.
Their historical revisionism gets even worse.
"Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than for us to die in the wilderness." (Exodus 14:12)
This is a flat-out lie. What they had actually said in Egypt was, "Our cry for help because of the slavery has gone up to God" (Ex. 2:23). They groaned under their bondage. But now, in their fear, they romanticize their slavery. The whips, the bricks without straw, the dead babies in the Nile, all of it is forgotten. In their memory, slavery has become a comfortable, predictable arrangement. "Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians." This is the slave mentality, and it is the essence of sin. Sin prefers the familiar chains of bondage to the terrifying freedom of following God into the unknown. It is better, they say, to serve Pharaoh than to die with Yahweh. They have made their choice clear. They would rather have the security of a full stomach in a slave pit than the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
The Gospel Command (v. 13-14)
Into this cacophony of fear, lies, and rebellion, Moses speaks with the calm authority of a man who knows his God. His response is not an argument; it is a command. It is a gospel command.
"But Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of Yahweh which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.'" (Exodus 14:13)
The first command is "Do not fear." This is not a gentle suggestion. It is a rebuke. Fear, in this context, is a sin. It is a failure to believe the promises of God. God does not coddle our faithless anxieties; He commands us to put them away. Why? Because He is trustworthy. The command is followed by the reason: "Stand by and see the salvation of Yahweh."
The Hebrew for "stand by" means to take your position, to hold your ground. It is not a call to passivity in the sense of apathy. It is a call to cease your panicked, faithless striving. Stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Stop trying to solve the problem yourself. Stop complaining. Plant your feet, and watch. Watch what God is about to do. The salvation belongs to Yahweh. He is the one who will "accomplish" it. The verb here implies a work, a creation. God is about to do for them what they could never do for themselves. This is the heart of the gospel. Salvation is not a cooperative effort. It is a divine accomplishment which we receive by faith.
And the result will be total and final. "The Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever." This is not just a temporary reprieve. This is annihilation. God does not just shoo our enemies away; He drowns them. He deals with them decisively. This is what Christ did at the cross. He did not merely wound the serpent's head; He crushed it. He did not just put sin on probation; He condemned it in the flesh.
Moses concludes with the ultimate statement of God's sovereign grace in salvation.
"Yahweh will fight for you, and you will keep silent." (Exodus 14:14)
Here it is, as plain as day. The central action belongs to God. "Yahweh will fight." Our part is to "keep silent." The word means to be still, to be quiet, to cease. Cease your complaining. Cease your doubting. Cease your frantic attempts to save yourself. Be quiet and let God be God. The battle is the Lord's.
This is profoundly offensive to the modern, can-do, self-help spirit. We want to contribute. We want to have a hand in our own rescue. We want God to be our co-pilot. But the Bible presents God as the pilot, the navigator, and the plane. Our role is to sit down, buckle up, and shut up. Our silence is the posture of faith. It is the quiet confidence that the One who brought us into this impossible situation knows exactly how He is going to get us out. It is the recognition that our greatest contribution to the battle is to get out of the way and let the Divine Warrior work.
Conclusion: Your Red Sea Moment
Every Christian finds himself, sooner or later, at the shore of his own Red Sea. It may be a financial crisis, a terminal diagnosis, a rebellious child, or a spiritual desert. The enemy is behind you, the obstacle is before you, and your heart is hammering in your chest. In that moment, you have a choice. You can follow the example of the Israelites, or you can follow the command of Moses.
You can lift up your eyes, see the size of the problem, and give yourself over to a spirit of fear. You can cry out to God, not in faith, but in accusation. You can start rewriting history, romanticizing your old life of sin, convincing yourself that slavery to your old habits was better than this terrifying walk of faith. You can lash out at the leaders God has placed over you. This is the path of unbelief, and it leads to death in the wilderness.
Or, you can hear the word of God through His servant. Do not fear. The circumstances are irrelevant. God is on the throne. Stand firm. Stop your striving and your worrying. Hold your position. See the salvation of the Lord. Fix your eyes not on the Egyptians or the water, but on the God who commands both. And be silent. Quiet your complaining heart. Still your anxious soul. Trust that Yahweh will fight for you.
This is the gospel. We were trapped, with the guilt of our sin pursuing us and the justice of God before us. We were utterly helpless. And God did not say, "Meet me halfway." He said, "Stand still." And on the cross, Jesus Christ fought for us. He absorbed the wrath we deserved. He drowned our sins in the sea of His blood. He accomplished a salvation for us that is total, final, and free. Our part is simply to be silent, to cease from our own works, and to receive by faith the victory that He has won.
Whatever your Red Sea is today, the command is the same. Be still, and know that He is God. He will be exalted among the nations, He will be exalted in the earth. He will fight for you. You have only to be silent.