Keep Still

What do you do when facing a particularly challenging situation or perhaps even great danger? Leadership can certainly include some of both. I thought of this topic earlier today as I prepared a Sunday school lesson from Exodus 14 where the Israelite nation is escaping from bondage in ancient Egypt. As they realize a well-trained army of elite chariot warriors is fast approaching, the people cry out in fear to Moses (and indirectly to Yahweh, their God). The response to their well-founded concern seems absurd. Moses says, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today…the LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

On my recently completed vacation trip to the Smokey Mountains of eastern Tennessee the men in our group were on a day trip to visit Cherokee, North Carolina. At the rest stop located on top of the mountain marking the state line we encountered a black bear that had decided to visit a trap located about twenty yards from the restrooms. The advice of “keeping still” made perfect sense in this situation as the bear made its way slowly toward the building where we were gathered to watch and take pictures. The photo included in this blog is proof of our encounter. Any sudden moves could have startled the bear to escape into the woods or to charge at us, I suppose.

But imagine the dilemma facing Moses and the 600,000 men plus women, children, and animals facing an impossible choice? To learn that an unseen force will fight for them must have been difficult to hear. Yet they did “stand firm” and “keep still” as God used natural phenomenon to confuse their pursuers and give them time to escape. Eventually the army perished in the sea.
As I pondered the connections between my bear story, the Red Sea rescue, and a possible leadership application I wondered what “keeping still” looks like every day in the workplace. Are you, like me, impatient at times to act when “keeping still” might allow a better solution to emerge? Do you assume the worst when sales slow and competition increases or might “keeping still” give you time to reflect on what is actually producing these trends and develop sensible responses? When was the last time you allowed a direct report or colleague to fight their own battles instead of intervening on their behalf? Might “keeping still” in those situations offer life lessons that could serve the person’s own leadership development?

Moses didn’t abdicate responsibility or suggest that his Hebrew people do the same. Instead he invited them to be prepared for a different approach, to see a new way, to act in faith. Eventually the people needed to walk between walls of water to safely escape the threat posed by the Egyptians. That took courage and required them to act. Leaders have many opportunities to do the same thing. Unfortunately the option of “keeping still”, even for a brief time, is generally abandoned in favor of decisive action. But the question remains, is there still that unseen force standing ready to fight for us? We may never know if we refuse to “stand firm” and wait.