“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
—Exodus 14:14

This verse reminds me that there is a time to simply hold our peace and see God go to work on our behalf. This is particularly true when it comes to responding to our enemies. Oftentimes the Lord is telling us to just turn the other cheek and let Him fight the battle for us.

Now, there is a time to stand up for yourself, and only the Holy Spirit can instruct you when you should and shouldn’t act or speak. But one of the things we have to master is holding our peace so God can go before us. You see, if we’re always taking matters into our own hands, we’ll never see God act. Sometimes in order to see God act, we have to stop acting.

There was a time in my life when I said to myself, “I’m never going to know for sure if God is the one opening these doors or if I’m the one doing this unless I stop.” So I did nothing for a year but simply wait on God. At the end of that year I saw God supernaturally open doors for me that I could never in a thousand years have opened for myself.

I want to encourage you, beloved, not to rely on the weapons of your flesh. Don’t take matters into your own hands. Messiah Yeshua said He did nothing by His own initiative; He did only what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19–20). So let’s stop acting in the flesh and stand still to see the salvation of the Lord. The Bible says those that wait upon Him will rise up with wings like eagles (Isa. 40:31).

Now, on the other hand, if you have a spirit of passivity, God may be calling you to take initiative. But for many believers, it’s not a spirit of passivity that’s their problem; it’s that they’re trying to manipulate things in their own strength. If that’s you, God is saying, “Just stand still and watch Me fight on your behalf.”

Father God, like Yeshua, I want to do only what I see You doing. Father, give me the discernment to know when to be still and when to act. I don’t want to take matters into my own hands or rely on my flesh. Help me to fully rely on You and see You bring me victory.

Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Divine Truth (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2021), Used by permission.