recount & rehearse his goodness

By Anna Prempeh (WITHIN Devotional Writer)



“ And Moses said to the people, ‘Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet” Exodus 14:13-14


When our comforts are stripped away or we are face to face with difficult circumstances, we get two choices: do we fret and worry or do we trust in God? Do we recount his faithfulness in the past or do we, like the Israelites at the Red Sea, forget our deliverance. Over the last few months the Lord has been confronting me in my struggle with fear and anxiety. Living in the midst of a pandemic has been a wake up call to how much I desire comfort and how the mounting unknowns tempt me to anxiety and fear which is rooted in a lack of trust in God. 
Despite witnessing God’s mighty power up close and personal through their deliverance from the Egyptians, Israel longed for the familiar and feared the Egyptians upon sighting them at the Red Sea. Is this not a microcosm for God’s continued work in delivering us day to day in our struggle with sin; and of what God is doing and will achieve? It is a struggle to live life with an open hand and heart of trust as we wrestle in this life and await eternity with our Lord. However, I find immense comfort and rest in looking for God’s declarations of His power and control over all in His Word.
We must savor the definitive statements here and throughout Scripture of God’s sovereign control. Here in Exodus we see Moses remind the Israelites that God “will” accomplish salvation; they “will never see the [Egyptians] again” who were standing there before them; the Lord “will fight for you.” Sisters we have this confidence: “he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). This is a balm for the weary and fearful heart. Seeing and recounting God’s deliverance should move us to have trusting faith in God and lives of obedience to Him. How do we recount our deliverance? This is found when we look at and remember the cross. The appeal Moses makes to the Israelites and the appeal to fear over and over again in Scripture is to shift our gaze onto the only one who can save and the only one worthy of our trust. 
God has saved his people for His glory (Exodus 14:18;31) ! When fear wells up in our hearts, we must pray to be reminded that He is keeping us!  He wants all of us and all of our trust. However, we are not powerless in the fight. He will fight for us, he has overcome, and He will prevail. We will find rest and comfort in his presence. Sisters, we ultimately cling to the unwavering hope we have by recounting and rehearsing the truth of God’s Word. 
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The weekly devotionals seek to encourage you to dig deeper into Scripture as you take the time to daily read, meditate, and internalize the verses in the devotional, along with the passages provided below to give greater context. Take the time to read them throughout the week (repetition is important) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grasp what God is showing you about Himself, about you, and how to live in light of these truths. 

Passages to read/memorize/meditate:


Isaiah 41:10
2 Chronicles 20:15
1 Samuel 12:22
Proverbs 3:5-7
Psalm 56:3
Phil 4: 4-8
Ps 46: 10
Matthew 6


Questions to Reflect on:

1. Are there specific areas where you are not trusting God fully ? 
   
2. How do you respond, in your heart,  to fear and/ or anxiety ?
   
3. What are some ways that you can personally recount God’s faithfulness ?