Day 20 with Moses: Sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader.

“Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.””

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14:11-14‬ NKJV

I remember that in one of the Rocky movies (weren’t there like 20 of those?), in the boxing match, Rocky had taken some bad hits and his eyes were nearly swollen shut. The bell rings and he goes back to his corner. It seems he can’t go on. But his trainer is there encouraging him that he could do it; and sure enough, he did!

Now let’s be real, that Rocky scenario makes a good story line, and it is true that having someone to encourage you when you think you can’t go on, can make all the difference. But what if you go back to the corner and all you’re facing are people telling you that you’re done for?

The fact is that there are times you must encourage yourself! Now I’m not talking some “positive vibes” mumbo jumbo; I’m talking about turning to the Lord by seizing upon His word and letting it be your life raft in a troubled sea.

At one point in time David and his men returned to their homes to find everything they had was taken by the Amalekites; that included their families. The men were so distraught that they actually were going to stone David!

“Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.””

‭‭I Samuel‬ ‭30:6-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Rather than joining in the hysteria, David turned to the Lord and the encouragement that comes from His very presence. Part of the process of that encouragement was seeking the Lord as to what he should do. The Lord instructed him and he did what the Lord said, with great success.

Today we find Moses in a scary predicament (the armies of Pharaoh were pursuing after them), made worse by the fact that the people were freaking out and taking their angst out on him. We find that Moses speaks with confidence concerning the fact that the Lord was going to bring them victory and that they wouldn’t even have to fight in the process. Now imagine if Moses had joined in the hysteria, don’t you think the story might have gone very differently?

Yes, it’s good to have cheerleaders around us. Indeed, the word of God tells us that we need to be encouraging to one another; it is an essential part of our functioning as the body of Christ. However, there are still going to be times when it seems that you are the only one in the room who sees hope and who remembers the word of the Lord.

By the power of the Lord, His presence, and His word, you can be encouraged even when the cheerleaders have already left the stadium.

For today let us discover what Moses discovered:

Sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader.

#40dayswithmoses