They are coming...

In today’s first reading (Ex. 14:5-18), the Israelites start to panic as Pharaoh’s hundreds of chariots come thundering toward them.

But Moses answered the people,
“Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see
the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today
you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you;
you have only to keep still.”

And then God gives the command for the people “to go forward.”

Today, the risk of catastrophic attack by horse-drawn chariot is rather low, but sometimes we may still have the same sense of worry and even panic as the Israelites did.

In the spiritual life, we may feel besieged by many different hordes:

• when we try to pray, we are overwhelmed by mundane distractions;
• when we try to think and act chastely, we find ourselves deluged with incessant messages and images of decadence;
• when we try to focus on the truth, we are barraged by those who disrespect the faith.

And then we hear the voice of Moses:

"Fear not! Stand your ground..."

Do not panic: that way lies disaster.

"The LORD himself will fight for you;
you have only to keep still."

The struggle (and the victory) ultimately belongs to God.
Only by his grace can we prevail
and through his grace we can achieve all things.

"Go forward."

Despite everything the world may throw at us, we are to keep always moving forward in response to the commands of God.

Despite our inadequacies, God calls us to go forward and to do his will with the help of his grace.

Our lives may be very complex and the world can be very scary, but down through the millennia the Lord’s message remains unchanged :

Fear not.... Be still.... Go forward....