There are so many lessons to be learned from the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, but one of the most important ones that Holy Spirit has been speaking to me is about the battle- that it is his and not ours. We all want to see supernatural deliverance like the red sea swallowing up our enemies, but rarely put ourselves in the position to where we have to trust God for the miracle or we will be destroyed. The kind of confidence that puts you in front of the red sea with your enemies behind you comes out of a deep and abiding trust that many think is absolutely nuts.
The fame of what God did at the red sea went ahead of the people of God so that all of their enemies were quaking in their boots. When you let God fight your battles it is the gift that keeps on giving. You are able to rest and he is glorified and the next enemy in line has already given up. The enemies would have all given up without a fight and let the Israelites pass- remember Rahab at Jericho who confessed as much. When we survey the enemy and determine our chances in the battles ourselves, we align ourselves with the 10 spies instead of Joshua and Caleb and the 40 day journey turns into 40 years giving our enemy more time to gain confidence and us more time to forget what God has done. God called the Israelites ( minus Caleb and Joshua) an evil and unbelieving generation for not believing that they could enter into the promised land ( rest). They couldn't get past trusting in their own ability to displace the enemy to take posession of the land and God called that Evil and unbelief.
Remember this is the generation that saw many miracles of supernatural provision, including Manna, quail, water from the rock, shoes and clothes that lasted for 40 years etc.- Supernatural occurrences were not the evidence of faith, Rest is the evidence of faith. God wants us to trust him in the battle, the more seemingly overwhelming the odds, the more glory he receives. Think about all the examples in scripture where God is jealous to do battle for his people:
*Jericho, the Israelites marched in a circle and worshipped and God crumbled the walls
* God sent an angel who killed 185,000 enemy soldiers in one night who had laid a seige on Jerusalem
*More than once we see the example of mass confusion and the enemy ends up fighting amongst themselves because the Lord puts a spirit of confusion on them and they are confounded.
* Remember the severe punishment David received for numbering his soldiers and trusting in those numbers instead of the Lord
* Remember Samuel's rebuke of Saul who did not honor God by performing the sacrifice before battle
The principle is true spiritually for the church age as well. Jesus has already defeated every enemy in every battle and there is nothing we can do to make the victory more complete, nothing we can add to his sacrifice. It really comes down to trust, believing that what he did was enough for everything we will ever have to face.
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