Stand Fast Before the Lord

The proud man boasts when the people of God seem trapped. Pharaoh sees Israel hemmed in by the sea; Sennacherib mocks Jerusalem under threat; the wicked in the psalm flatters himself that no reckoning will come. But the Lord is never cornered. He waits, not because He is weak, but because He will make His name known in the overthrow of the proud and the deliverance of those who fear Him.

Therefore the saints do not answer terror with noise, nor blasphemy with panic. They humble themselves, pray, and wait in obedience. Cyprian sets before us Moses’ word: “Moses said to the people, Trust, and stand fast, and see the salvation which is from the Lord, which He shall do to you today. The Lord Himself shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:11-14” Hezekiah walked this same road when “he rent his garment, put on sackcloth, and bade the elders of the priests, similarly habited, approach God through Isaiah”.

This is not idleness. Israel had to go forward when the sea opened. Judah had to seek the Lord in fasting and lowliness. We also must cease from deceit, abandon the secret plotting of Psalm 36, and come into the light of God. The wicked delay repentance because judgment is not immediate, but the delay is mercy, not forgetfulness. God casts down horse and rider; He also searches the heart. So let your mouth be quiet before men, your cry rise to God, and your feet be ready to walk the path He opens.