by Wesley Blackburn
God's already done a crossing the sea miracle with Moses, and now it's Joshua's turn.
The story is pretty simple; the Israelites need to cross the Jordan River, so God gives Joshua instructions to tell the people so that they might cross successfully. Joshua gives said instructions, and the people follow them, and God miraculously stops the waters of the Jordan from flowing and the people cross over on dry land. Surely, that had to be a cool thing.
But there are really three things that stand out to me in this story:
1. Joshua makes a huge statement before he even knows what God is going to do. Take a look in Joshua 3:5. Before even knowing what God was going to do, Joshua stated to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you." In essence, Joshua says, "Guys, purify yourselves, because tomorrow God's going to show up in a big way and do something incredible." The faith in that statement is amazing. It also makes me wonder if God wants to do something incredible and amazing in my life, if I'll simply purify myself before Him.
2. The priests cross in the midst of the rushing river. Read the story again if you didn't catch this; Joshua says that the priests who carry the Ark of the Lord into the Jordan must first set foot in the Jordan and then its waters would cease. How many of us can empathize with a situation like that one? We feel like we're in a situation where the storms of life are crashing and rushing all around us, and God is simply asking us to trust Him in the midst of whatever's happening. Many times in our lives, we don't experience the comfort of seeing God provide until we actually make the decision to step out in faith and to do what God has asked of us, trusting that He will take care of the rest.
3. God's purpose in doing this miracle. God really had three objectives in doing this miracle. Number one, he wanted the people of Israel to see that He was with Joshua just as He had been with Moses (Joshua 3:7). But what really caught me were the two reasons given at the very end of today's reading: "[God] did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God" (Joshua 4:24). So, God tells us right here that He did this miracle so that we might come to see His power and also to fear, honor, and respect Him. It makes it a lot easier to trust when we have already seen God's power provide for us in the past. But secondly (and make no bones about it), God is serious about us honoring Him. He is #1, and He wants us to remember that in every circumstance of our lives.
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