Be Still
This painting is a commission to be part of three stations honoring Jewish tradition to go up at the Cross on the Hill in Benezette, PA.
When the Israelites were being pursued by the Egyptians after their escape from Egypt, they were frustrated because they were still being harassed by the ones from whom they had thought to have gained freedom. They were frustrated that in working with God’s plan for them, life was still like this. In response to their frustrations, Moses said to them, “Have no fear! Stand firm, and you will see what Yahweh will do to save you today: the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. Yahweh will do the fighting for you; you have only to keep still.” – Exodus 14: 13-14
God had not yet told Moses what he was going to do. Moses was simply in a stance of, “We’re about to discover how Yahweh will take us forward.”
While I was painting this, Jesus’ time in the desert was also really standing out to me. I was in my own time of impasse in my life, and wanted very much to do something about it. One of Jesus’ temptations was to throw himself down, to experience the saving help of angels. Perhaps, as a way of even ridding himself of the devil and the torture of all this relentless temptation. But when he did not do it the devil’s way, the angels came and looked after him anyway. What he wanted, but anointed, not poisoned.
If the Israelites had tried to escape the Egyptians their own way, even if they had succeeded, they would not have been available to the help and presence of God. Moses’ stance of “Let’s see how God will help us” let God bring the help in a way that he was intimately close with them, stayed among them as a pillar of fire and cloud. That stance kept them open to and aware of God’s help, but also his intimacy. So now, when he prays to part the Red Sea truly open to how God will help, he is about to see God’s power in astonishing ways.
