The fateful day had finally arrived. The day of the crossing of the Jordan, the day when Israel was to enter Canaan. The people folded their tents and followed the ark-bearing priests to the brink of the Jordan. It was the time of the barley harvest, the month of Nisan (March-April), the first month of their year. The river was at flood stage—a foreboding sight to the priests and people and a severe test of their faith.
Would they hesitate in fear or would they advance in faith, believing that what God had promised (about the water stopping) would actually happen?
Dramatic things happened the moment the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stepped into the fast moving, swirling waters. The water from upstream stopped flowing (Joshua 3:15-16). Piling up at a town called Adam, waters from other streams were completely cut off so as not to enter the Jordan. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
The wall of water was held in place for many hours, possibly an entire day.
By this great miracle, the crossing of the Jordan River at flood stage by a nation of about 2 million people, God was glorified, Joshua was exalted, Israel was encouraged, and the Canaanites were terrorized.
For Israel the crossing of the Jordan meant they were irrevocably committed to a struggle against armies, chariots, and fortified cities. They were also committed to walk by faith in the living God and to turn from walking according to the flesh as they had often done in the wilderness.
For believers today, crossing the Jordan represents passing from one level of the Christian life to another. It is a picture of entering into spiritual warfare to claim what God has promised. This should mean the end of a life lived by human effort and the beginning of a life of faith and obedience.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
I want you to see why stepping out in faith was so important in this story. Today, it would be quite a feat for a modern army to cross a river like that. But for a group of rag-tag slaves who came out of Egypt, it was impossible! So what does God say?
As the people watched, the twelve priests drew near to the Jordan River, but the flooded river still rolled by. They approached to within a yard of it, and still the river remained unchanged. They walked in up to their ankles and nothing happened, walked up to their knees and nothing happened, walked up to their waist and nothing happened. Then they just kind of stood there -- waiting for the miracle, waiting for God to move.Then, the step of faith.
They could not see it as of yet, but as soon as the priests stepped into the Jordan, the river stopped flowing. Theses priests stepped into the Jordan and it stopped up.
Joshua 3:15 says, "As soon as the priests stepped into the river the water stopped flowing and piled up." It piled up 17 miles north (chapter 3). I don't know how He did it. The fact is, the water stopped. But He stopped it 17 miles north, that means all that water had to run down first and subside before it actually was completely dry. So there was probably quite a bit of waiting...(what do you think they we were thinking as they were waiting?)
Because of their act of faith to step out, the Bible says that God did a miracle – after they took the step of faith. The principle: The first step is always the hardest. The first step toward reconciliation of a relationship. The first step down the aisle. The first step is always the hardest.
So, I ask you again today what I asked yesterday - What is your Jordan river? What is the barrier out there that is keeping you from becoming all God wants you to be? Where is it in your life? Is it a relationship? A career? Something you're holding on to that you don't want to let go of? What's keeping you in the desert and out of the Promised Land?
Some of you are saying, "I don't know why I should step out on faith. It's pretty comfortable right where I am. I kind of like my life. Why should I shake it up? I'm getting older." Joshua was 80 years old when God called him to cross the Jordan river and go into battle for the next 25 years.
It is never too late to say "Yes!" to God. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”
WHAT STEP OF FAITH WILL YOU TAKE? Until you get this foundational truth, you will miss so much in the Christian life, because it is all about steps of faith. Stepping out to share your faith. Stepping out in obedience to God's commands. Stepping out to start tithing. Stepping out to serve. Stepping out to do something courageous.
Anybody can play it safe, but nobody remembers those who play it safe.
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena: whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
--Theodore Roosevelt--
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