We Have Only to be Silent

Exodus 14:13-14

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I’d like to give just a little bit of context to the passage I’m going to read in a moment. This comes right after the nation of Israel left Egypt. They were rescued essentially from being slaves in Egypt, and they had come now out of Egypt and had camped by the shores of the Red Sea. But while they were there, the armies of Pharaoh came because Pharaoh had changed his mind, decided he wanted them back. So they were charging forward. So Israel found themselves trapped between a rock and a hard place. Or the devil and the deep blue sea, if you will. Nowhere to go. Their doom is imminent. And after complaining to Moses, this is what Moses said to them in Exodus chapter 14, verses 13 and 14.

And Moses said to the people, “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.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

When God has taught us what he would have us believe and do. We know where we’re going, we know what his plans are. We know what his desires are for our lives. Yet there are trials that come up. There are difficulties that face us. We need to be strengthened in faith. I think of this phrase “you have only to be silent.” Sometimes you can say that as a parent. I’ve said that as a parent to my children. We’re going to get where we’re going! You just be quiet, right? Just stop complaining! But there’s more to it than that. There’s also a loving assurance that Moses is trying to apply here to the people of Israel, not only just shut up and stop worrying about it, but after their prayer to God has come. Now watch, wait, pray and wait.

This is how God comes to us through His Word and through His sacraments. The people of God have consistently seen the difficulties that will come. Think of the three men in the fiery furnace Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They faced imminent destruction, and yet they told Nebuchadnezzar, the king, we will not obey you. God will rescue us. He is able to take us out of this fire. But even if he doesn’t, we’re not going to bow down to the idols that you have put in front of us. They remained silent after that simple confession of their faith. After praying to their God, they went silently into their what looked like doom.

Ultimately, we see the fulfillment of this finally in Jesus. Isaiah describes him as a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Of course, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had prayed and wept and said, Father, if you are willing, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. Finally, when he was in the trial, he remained silent.

Our words are not as powerful or as great as God’s words. We pray to God because he has spoken to us, and after our prayers we wait. We hear him. We can continue to pray to him as long as we need, as long as we like. But he strengthens our faith when we are silent, and he comes to us with His Word, and we finally do see what he would have us believe and do is trust in His Son, who has paid everything for us and wins that eternal life for us.

For Israel, this deliverance came through this miraculous journey of a travel through the waters in the Red Sea as they parted, something that had never been seen before. Walking in water but walking on dry ground. And so our deliverance may come in something that seems impossible, for example death. Through it we will come to life. And on the last day, when Jesus comes again to judge the whole world, he’ll bring us to that eternal life that he has won for us.

God strengthens our faith through the word, and that is his will for us. We have only to be silent.