Growing up, I was a fan of video games. Wait…I am still a fan of video games. Not all video games, however. My favorite games are sports games: basketball, baseball, football, soccer, etc. For some reason, when I play those games in my mind, I am actually those players or that coach, which unfortunately would control my emotions, as well. Lose a game and I would be upset. Player gets hurt, I would be devastated. You get the idea. But one game got to me more than any other game, mainly because I still have never beat the game. That game is Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.

 

I remember being in elementary school when it came out and everyone would talk about how far they would make it and who knocked them out. There were even some conversations that Mike Tyson did not even exist in the game because none of us knew anyone who had played him. Mike Tyson was this mystery opponent who we wanted to face but knew we would get knocked out.

  

To be honest, that is how I feel sometimes when I know a trial or something difficult is coming up. The mystery of it has me excited or ready to battle, but the actuality of it paralyzes me because I know or think I am going to get knocked out. I try to find strength in past wins, similar to the rounds leading up to Tyson, but I struggle to believe that it will work…and then I start to doubt. Sometimes I doubt so much that I run from the trial to avoid it altogether. I think, “Hey, it might just go away on its own. It has happened before, why can’t it happen this time?” Fortunately – yes, fortunately – you and I are called to fight, but thankfully we have Someone to fight for us.

 

In Exodus 14, we find the people of Israel running from Pharaoh. They were frightened of what was to come. They knew they could not defeat Pharaoh and his army, but the Lord had a plan to fight for them. They were frustrated and even started to blame their leader, Moses, wondering what was God’s plan and why would He bring this extra stress on them. Moses responded by saying in verse 14, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

The Lord told Moses for the people of Israel to keeping going forward, to not stop because He was going to let Pharaoh and all the Egyptians know “that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” The rest of the story goes like this: The people of Israel reached the Red Sea and Moses stretched out his hand, and the Lord divided the sea so the people of Israel could cross on dry land – but when the men of Pharaoh followed, the water closed in on them. The Lord fought their battle when they saw no other way.

   

I don’t know the exact battle, trial, difficulty you are going through. However, the Lord does. He desires to fight for you. His love for you leads Him to want to protect you. Let Him fight that fight today. Go to Him and ask Him for His help, guidance, strength, and wisdom. He will come through. We might not know how, but He will. It is in His character. This doesn’t mean we just sit on the couch or hide but we allow Him to move first and we follow His lead.

  

Exodus 14 concludes this way, “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” His victory for and through us will not only draw us closer to Him but our story will show others the “great power” of the Lord.

  

I remember the first time I actually saw someone defeat Mike Tyson in Punch Out. I was so excited that I was beside myself and kept asking him, “How did you do that?” And he simply said with the wit and wisdom of an 8 year old, “Someone told me how.”