I once came close to drowning. I found myself in deep water and started to flail. That only caused me to sink faster. Thankfully, I calmed myself and laid back on the water to float. I became still, and that saved my life.
In Exodus Moses and the Israelites find themselves pursued by Pharaoh and backed up against the Red Sea, the Egyptian army bearing down on them. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, the people begin to panic. Nowhere to go! Nowhere to run!
Then Moses says:“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”"You need only to be still."
Being still can be a profound act of resistance. We are surrounded by the crazed, anxious activity of others. Their panic is contagious, their fear infectious. Worse, they will shame you for staying still, denigrating your calm as wickedness and damning you for not "doing something" as the world burns.
But on the banks of the Red Sea, God fights for the still. And as I discovered many years ago, the flailing drown while the still are saved.
