Scripture:

“Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over. After three days, leaders went through the camp and gave out orders to the people: ‘When you see the Covenant-Chest of God, your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it. Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you’ll see clearly the route to take. You’ve never been on this road before.’

 

Then Joshua addressed the people: ‘Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you.’

 

Joshua instructed the priests, ‘Take up the Chest of the Covenant and step out before the people.’ So they took it up and processed before the people.

 

God said to Joshua, ‘This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They’ll see for themselves that I’m with you in the same way that I was with Moses. You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: ‘When you come to the edge of the Jordan’s waters, stand there on the river bank’.‘

 

Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: ‘Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. This is how you’ll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. Look at what’s before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan’s water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap’.” Joshua 3:1-13 (MSG)

 

Perspective:

When the people of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, they had to first cross the Jordan River. Most of the men who had experienced the crossing of the Red Sea with Moses had died in the wilderness. Joshua was their new leader, leading them into unknown territory. They had heard about how God parted the Red Sea in a miraculous way, but they hadn’t experienced it. There is a difference between hearing and experiencing. From the start of the journey on a new road, God was going to show Himself faithful to His people. As the people prepared to leave the wilderness that they had known, God instructed them to keep moving forward. The miracle would come as a result of them taking the first step into the Jordan River. Sure enough, as the priests’ feet touched the water, a miracle began to take place. In Joshua 3, it says that not one foot was wet from crossing the river. There was a divine provision and protection that resulted as the people responded obediently.

 

When we are facing new roads, it can be tempting to sit back and just stare at the Jordan River in our own life. We can see the great obstacles before for us without seeing God, who is going before us. We can hear the stories about how God has been faithful in other people’s lives, but until we step out in faith, we can’t experience the great miracles of walking with God. Maybe you are facing a new season in your family or you were just offered a new job. You are on a road that you have never been on before. It can also come in the form of transitions in life where God is asking us to be obedient. Those seasons of life can feel uncertain, as we are working through God’s instructions. We might wonder if God really is asking us to cross the Jordan River because the River is too wide, deep, and far. Yet, God’s working in your life does not have to be resigned to the past. He has new victories that He wants to bring about in your life. As you face your own moment at the start of a new road, let your obedience to God lead you where you couldn’t go on your own.

Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.  Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. 

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About Hona Amer

I help people live life to the fullest. Check out my book, Smart Work U. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. In order to receive updates, subscribe below.

 

 

 

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