Trust and Obey

When you come to Joshua Chapter 3 you find a great miracle, but like all miracles found in the Bible, they serve a purpose. One thing we should all remember is that with God there are no accidents, and He doesn’t just do something because He feels like it. It’s a foundational and comforting thing to remember that God has a plan, and HIs plans aren’t like our plans that often change or unravel. It is a plan that spans all of history, and He is never surprised by anything that happens.

This is where the crossing of the Jordan River comes into play in Joshua Chapter 3. The Israelites have been wandering the wilderness for forty years, and it is time to conquer all of the Promised Land, but there is a big obstacle in the way. There is a river between them and where they need to go. Not only is there a river between them and their destination, but it is also at flood stage. We don’t often think about it, but it snows in Israel. The mountain range in the middle of the country often has snowfall in the winter, and in the Spring that snow melts and flows down to the Jordan River. A river that is in many spots less than one hundred feet wide and as shallow as five feet deep swelled to as much as a mile wide and could be thirty feet deep in ancient times. During the time of Joshua, the area surrounding the river became a giant swamp. This is what the Israelites faced.

Why would God send them to the river to cross with it in this state? He specifically instructs Joshua to go at this time. Wouldn’t it have been easier to wait until the river was not at flood stage? It certainly would have been easier, but God had a plan. This generation of Israelites had to learn to trust God. They were about to go into a land with walled cities, like Jericho, and armies they would have to battle. God needed to show them he could be trusted to take care of them as they faced years of battles ahead. What better way to do that than to part a river like He parted the Red Sea for Moses’ generation.

God gave them specific instructions as to how to proceed with the crossing. He took them to the river and told them to wait three days. They were then instructed to purify themselves. The priests were told to carry the Ark of the Covenant in front of the people as they marched. Then the priests were told to go down into the Jordan River with the ark. That is a lot of instructions. Every one of them served a purpose, but what I want to focus on is that for the miracle to happen they all needed to be obeyed. There would have been no miracle without obedience. If the priests never entered the water with the Ark the water would have never ceased flowing, and after they did all God commanded the river did part for them.

This same truth holds for us today. We want to see God work in our individual lives and in our churches, but we often don’t do what is necessary on our side. I believe we miss so much of what God could do through us because we don’t obey. Understand that God’s plans aren’t thwarted because we don’t obey. We simply miss out on the blessing of what God can do with and through us. We are the ones on the losing end. Are we seeing less of the incredible power of God because we refuse to deal with our sin? Do churches miss out on amazing opportunities because they refuse to step out in faith? I think the answer to those questions is a resounding yes. When we strive to obey God in every area from what He commands us to do as well as what He commands us to not do we open the door for God to use us as individuals and as a group of believers in ways we can’t imagine. Be ready to obey and watch what God part the river in front of you.