These words contain God's command to the believer when he is humbled by great distress and extraordinary difficulties. He can’t go back; and it seems that he can’t go forward; he is hemmed in on the right and on the left, so what is he supposed to do? The Master's word to him is, "Stand still!" and he would do well to listen only to his Master's word.

Other advisers come with their suggestions, of course. Despair whispers, "Lie down and die; just give up," and cowardice says, "Retreat; relinquish your principles and do what’s necessary to handle the matter."

But you can’t listen to those voices of Satan, if you are a child of God. He wants you to be strong in Him, and, for a while, He may tell you to stand still and renew your strength for some greater advance in the future.

The pragmatist is quick to say, "Well, at least do something! To stand still and wait is sheer idleness." How often we launch into some new endeavor, when we ought to look to the Lord, who will not only do something but will do everything.

And then there are the presumptuous—those who say, "Go ahead and march into the sea, expecting a miracle." But faith doesn’t listen to presumption or despair or cowardice or pragmatism. Faith listens to God, and God says, "Stand still." Wait on Him with a holy life, ready for action, expecting further orders; and it won’t be long before God says to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, "Go forward." [M&E]