Theology in the Trenches By Kathleen Kjolhaug I Will Fight for You
Exodus 14:14 reminds me of what I must do. “I will fight for you, you need only be silent.”
I took a walk this morning and on it, I thought of you. I wondered if perhaps you took a walk, too. The crisp air tempered my steps. Clearing the air clears the mind, and I looked up.
Feather like clouds made their mark as the white contrasted nicely with the blue. One cloud looked as though someone was holding a pen and the message scrawled lightly across the sky appeared to say burdens being carried were light. They were His and I need not be bogged down.
Onto a field approach I went and into a pasture I’d passed by many a time but had never stopped long enough enter in. Marching onward it offered a winding path through the Poplar trees which seemed to solute the changing of the seasons. The colors on parade matched those of the school bus rumbling by. As the wheel on the bus approached, my friend, the bus driver made her way with a friendly wave as salutation.
As I made my way down yet another path, before me was a metal coil wearing weary rust colors as if dressing for the season. A leather glove had fallen years back and now the age related formation of it looked sort of poetic as it stiffly stood its ground. The sun shone brightly as my mood lightened and the cobwebs cleared. “We need only be silent” (Ex.14:14).
Sometimes a walk is all one needs to gain perspective. It’s just the way it is. If not a physical walk, then perhaps a walk down memory lane or just knowing that others are walking unfamiliar pathways helps bring comfort. “We need only be silent” Ex 14:14). After all— He is our all in all and is always working in all ways. But sometimes I forget.
I forget and can become quickly frustrated or short sighted. Other times I get in the way of my own interpretation of the misinformation I have spinning through my mind which tends to take up time and can be a waste of time. He says, “I will fight for you.” He does not say He might, or that maybe He’ll think about it if we just do our part. No, He says He WILL fight for you.
This is reassuring if only I can remember. I must remember to not stumble upon the rock I tend to throw onto the pathway when the reality is, I need merely lean on the Rock. “I need only be silent” means I can trust His ways over my own even when I don’t understand it or even when I think I do but really don’t see all of what He’s up to.
Oh my, all this from a walk early morn. As the sun moves high into the sky for the day, I remember that it is the Son who not only sheds light but is Light. And all I need do is keep silent. Amen.
