Standing Still Before the Lord

By Keith Kiper

Reprinted from God's Revivalist & Bible Advocate

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today;for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.” Exodus 14:13

We are living in an era of ever increasing fear and tension. We are afraid to leave home without locking our houses. We are afraid to help people because of lawsuits. We can’t fly overseas without the threat of a terrorist hijacking.
With all our technology and education we are not really much different than people in Moses’ day. We tell others to trust in Jesus, what seminars they should attend, even what scriptures they should use to overcome trials and temptations.
Why is it then, that when things start going wrong for us; we so many times run to our doctors, our counselors, and our prescriptions. Why don’t we seek the wisdom and counsel of the Lord?
Part of the answer to that question could be that we live in a time when everything is readily obtained. We have instant coffee, instant meals, and even instant pictures. We want it all: RIGHT NOW, if not sooner. In short, we are not willing to stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.
Standing still before the Lord involves more effort than many people are willing to put forth to seek God’s will. We want to make formulas out of scripture verse to fit our particular situations, hoping again for that “instant” cure to our problems. It becomes easy to use our salvation as a fire escape from hell, using it when we need it, rather than as a total way of life affecting every thought and every decision.
Standing still before the Lord may involve intense prayer and fasting to seek guidance in a situation.
Aside from definite decisions about particular situations, we need to learn the value of standing still before the Lord to help us in our everyday living, working, and playing.
Standing still before the Lord involves a daily time of prayer and communion with Him. We will find that our days will go better and our ministries will become more fruitful if we put that time of waiting before Him as the first priority in our lives and as the first thing on our agenda for each day.
Jesus told His disciples that without Him they could do nothing. Even Jesus waited before the Lord for 40 days in prayer and fasting. This should say it all for us.
I challenge you, wait upon and stand still before the Lord. The fears and tensions will leave you and you will find yourself involved in a more effective ministry for Him, whatever your place is in God’s plan..

This was first published in the September 1986 Issue of God's Revivalist. I was going through a time of testing. I had ministry decisions to make, and Vicky and I were going through the process of waiting for the adoption of a child. God gave me this article and it was then published by God’s Revivalist in the September 1986 issues.
Recently, some 20 years later, I found I had colon cancer. After a testing of my faith, I found the promises God have given me then to still be true. With all the economic turmoil going on in the world around us, I feel the truths God gave me then still applies today.
I would like to make this a great blog, so
please send me any articles, poems, or testimonies you may have...keith 1 Cor 13