When God Tells You to Do Nothing | Exodus 14 | Crossroads Daily

God's saying it's saying to the Israelites back in the day and saying to me in 2026 you're good. I know what they're telling you. You should try to do but I'm telling you just be firm Stay still and keep going forward. I got you. Sure. There's a lot of comfort in that. I'm like, I'm gonna listen to you. Yeah That tends to work out. Yeah. Yeah This is the crossroads daily. No experts No, perfect people just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life Hey, I'm Alex, I'm Arturo I'm Kirsten and I'm Peter and today we are in Exodus 14 and this is it like this is this is the chapter of why Exodus is called Exodus it is literally where the people of God the Israelites are moving out of Egypt So this is the pinnacle of the story. We made it and the Israelites are leaving but they're being pursued by their enemies Still Pharaoh and his army and we get to this point. I'm gonna read it for us in Exodus 14 13 and Moses said to the people do not be afraid Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation that he will accomplish for you today For the Egyptians you see today you will never see again the Lord will fight for you and you must be quiet and I just think we need to pause here for a moment because they're leaving Egypt they are quite literally in between The Promised Land in the army and there's the sea right in front of them and God says don't do anything Just be quiet, and I don't know about you guys, but that is not my default Being quiet. And so I'm just curious How do you guys respond usually to fear or when there's combat or you're stuck in between something? I have so many thoughts in this because that That verse is so perfect cuz just before this they're like why do we leave this is so horrible and God, I feel like When he says be quiet, it's like literally like shut up It's not like oh, this is a command. It's like you guys are just being Stop. Yeah, you're in your heads. Just do what you're being told to go And then oh there was something else in this where oh Just a little tidbit that maybe we can come back to of like you will never see them again Which I find so fascinating because later in the same chapter

they The Egyptians are like, oh, let's let's flee and God's like take them out and that like kind of seals the never see them again because if they were to actually pray and not be Then they might see him again, so anyway such a good first to pick out and I just think that that's Yeah, so doesn't it kind of remind you? I'm a parent I'm a mom and I have a toddler and a baby and it reminds me of when my toddler is screaming and throwing a fit over Nothing, and I'm like stop Yeah, that's what this reminds me and telling them you don't have to do anything I Sometimes that's really frustrating I'm a very much like that classic self-help advice that control you can control like Always trying to find the way to exert some sort of power over the situation But if I take it a different way, it's so comforting that it's not on my shoulders It's not in my hands. Like it's not my yoke to bear. Yeah Yeah, and I think that's a call back to Matthew 11 by the way everyone if you want to read that verse but uh, I think it's also at the very top of the chapter I find it so fascinating that God sets the situation up on purpose This wasn't he leads them backwards back to a spot where they're trapped up against the water and he sets the entire Table up so he can show his power to his people before they leave Yeah Like it's like one of those like I'm gonna set the stage To build your guys's faith because it's obviously not there yet And they're their screams of we better off as slaves in Egypt proves that their faith is not there yet And he's like I need we need a demonstration of power. That is undeniable Sure, and so he said he just sets it up. Yeah, and they're fearful right like that. That is kind of their their defaults I mean, what is that for you guys? What's your default when you're in the face of fear? How do you feel how do you respond I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum I I'm not a fighter and There's sometimes this guilt I feel because I'm surrounded by fighters that when something comes up in my life

You need to do this. You need to do this and my natural disposition is to not want to do anything so verses like this maybe are easier for people like me because well easier in the sense, great, I didn't even know what to do anyway. So if you're telling me to do nothing, except just keep going, easy. But there's this guilt because there's people around me that are saying, but try this, but try this, but try this. And I'm like, maybe I should then, maybe I should do something. But I feel like there's not much to do except just keep going forward. And so, verses like these are good for people like me because it's like God's saying, saying to the Israelites back in the day and saying to me in 2026, you're good. I know what they're telling you, you should try to do, but I'm telling you, just be firm, stay still, and keep going forward, I got you. And there's a lot of comfort in that. I'm like, I'm gonna listen to you. That tends to work out. Yeah, that's a really good point because I think in any situation in our lives where we feel stuck, we're feeling fear, we have combat, we kind of have a choice of who we listen to and who we trust. And are we going to listen to and trust people? Sometimes those are good people like Moses, they're putting their trust in Moses.

Or is it trusting God? Can you guys think of any time in your life where you had no choice but to trust God? I mean, there's situations in my life, I'll take my daughter, I've got a daughter and she's not biologically mine, she knows that. And there are just some things, I think the biology involved of like, I don't know why you do what you do. And maybe it stems from something I can't explain or I can't really, I have to just navigate it. And so there's a lot of things in that dynamic of a household where you just have to trust God. Hey, I came into your life two, three years into your existence and I don't know, I wasn't there for the first couple years. I don't know where this came from. And I have to just be with you as you navigate your life and the things that you're struggling through, the things that she's not even aware of. And she's reacting to the world. And I have to really just trust God with her development and me just kind of being like, I'm just gonna be present, I'm just gonna be there for you. And I'm sure you could extend that to friends and family, that there's really not much you can do except trust that God's got them. There are only so many things and so many places I can go with her, with whoever. And you just kind of have to trust God's got them

when I can't even be there for them. Yeah. Yeah. I'm kind of in this situation and so I'm actually really annoyed that this is the scripture because I feel like it's God screaming at me, like, do you hear me? But through trusted counsel, people that know Jesus and scripture, I've been hearing like, you just need to sit and be silent. And that's come from a little over, or almost a year ago, I took a job switch that was really big for me and was kind of like taking, it felt like, but it wasn't, a few steps back, few steps back to grow in experience and leadership. And I remember hearing like, okay, you're gonna be here for a while. You're gonna learn, you're gonna grow. And it's been really hard. And I so badly just wanna like force my way out of it, but at the same, so that's one element. And then my husband lost his job like six months ago for the second time in a year. And then this past week, my mom is our sole childcare. She watches our two kids every day that we're at work and my husband's freelancing. So he's like, doesn't have a job, but he's still doing full-time work, trying to get work. And so within the past week, we were in this situation of, okay,

so badly, we don't have any childcare. My husband is actually waiting for a full-time job offer this week, that if he gets it, we would literally have no childcare because right now he's taking a step back to help with the boys. How do I summarize this? Moral of the story is right now I'm in a moment that I could easily force my way into a new situation that I could afford childcare. I could like be more present with my family. And God just keeps saying like, just wait, I told you I have this. Like, so I had to stop researching daycares to put my kids in. I had to take off work to take care of my mom for four days and just slow down. And so I'm in this situation, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm like annoyed because I want it to end. I'm like, let's just get to the good part. I get it. Oh, yeah, but I empathize. I understand it. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing all that. Oh, yeah That was like word vomit. I was like, where am I going with this? Okay. Well, it's that's those are the times in our life We're like, I don't even know what's going on Literally have no choice, but just say God I trust you. Like I need you to fight for me. Yeah in this. Yeah, that's good Really recently. It's been I've had this kind of mystery medical thing going on with Some and it was one of those like it could so this is my first mistake went to dr. Google, right? And it could be relatively benign or something like really bad or I know I was like, oh crap, you know and like the mystery was terrible went to the doctor a few times and you know things weren't getting better and

You know my doctor's like oh, yeah, like this could be nothing or it could be better. It's one of those so and then there was like let's do all these tests like wait for all the results and I'm sitting in that waiting like and I'm like, oh my gosh like and I hate things that are just mysteries, right if I know what's going on Then I can come up with a plan or I can turn it or I can do something, right? it's like and but with this it's like I just got to sit and wait like really and Yeah, and then and I was like, yeah, yeah So it's another and I think he used this moment because things have been going really well and he's like, okay You've trusted me before but now can you trust me again when the stakes are higher? Wow, you have more to lose. Yeah, I'm like Okay, I see I see now and recently got the results got some results back that are very encouraging So there's still some stuff to figure out but like we're in a much better spot So and yeah, I can't see like nothing fell apart like you're okay. I'm like, all right all right, and that's and that's another rock in my In my stack of rocks in the Jordan of like remembering God's faithfulness like I'm just adding adding to that that's not you Thank you for the results you guys and in the midst of medical myths mysteries parenting Collapsed child care job situations, whatever I think it's encouraging for all of us today that the Lord will fight for us and so wherever you're at Whether it's something big whether it's something small whatever Feels like it's right there, but there's a sea right in front of you. Just remember today that the Lord will fight for you