Most everyone is familiar with the story in Exodus of the parting of the Red Sea, even if it’s only from watching The Ten Commandments – Charlton Heston with arms raised against a backdrop of Cecil B. DeMille’s iconic special effects. And anyone who grew up in church is likely familiar with the battle of Jericho from the book of Joshua. In between those two miraculous events lies the story of a third, much less heralded miracle that the Israelites experienced on their way to the promised land.
In Joshua 3, God tells Joshua to send Israel’s priests ahead of the rest of the group, carrying the Ark of the Covenant (yes, the real-life version of the one Indiana Jones went looking for.) In verse 8, God commands the priests that when they reach the Jordan river, to go and stand in the river. So they carry the Ark to the Jordan’s banks, which, because it was harvest time, were at flood stage, as high as they get. Then, obeying the Lord’s command, they stepped into the river. As soon as they did, God parted the river, just as He had done with the Red Sea at the raising of Moses’ staff.
The difference between those two miracles is a subtle, but critical one in understanding how God often works in human circumstances. They had to get their feet wet. In order to experience God’s miraculous intervention in these particular challenging circumstances, Israel, the priests in particular, had to take a leap, or in this case, a step, of faith. God still did the heavy lifting, but first He needed to see if Israel would obey Him, acting in faith when the situation looked impossible.
Sometimes God calls us to action in order to receive His miracles. What would have happened if the priests had just stood on the shore and not stepped into the river? Probably nothing. The water would have kept flowing, and Israel would have kept waiting. Similarly, as we sit waiting on God for a miracle in our circumstances, we may sense His urging to take some specific action, probably something that we’re scared to do, but that if we do, might just open the door we’re looking for. It’s in these moments that our faith has a chance to leap forward. One small step of faith into the river of uncertainty, trusting that God’s going to show us where the next step leads, might be all we need to experience the breakthrough we’ve been praying for.
Each time we look to God in challenging circumstances, He will push us just a little harder to make our faith grow that much stronger. On Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, God first called on Moses to faithfully raise his staff, and the Red Sea parted. Then He called on the priests to step into the Jordan River, and it too parted. Thus the Red Sea was about the faith of one man, Moses, Israel’s leader. The Jordan was about the faith of the entire nation, or at least, the priests who led them spiritually. God wants us to trust Him in all things, but He wisely works to grow that trust in us with baby steps.
Each circumstance we face that brings His faithful deliverance brings with it a deeper calling for us to walk in faith. Taking Israel’s journey one step further into Jericho, we see Him press them further into action. God’s (literal) marching orders surely made little sense, yet Israel was victorious after following them faithfully. As life brings us to the shore of each new depth to be crossed, or each new battle to be fought, He calls us to take bolder and bolder, and sometimes stranger and stranger, steps of action. It’s never about us solving our own problems. It’s always about us showing that we trust Him with obedience to keep the path clear for us. We may get our feet wet, but we must always rest assured that He’ll never let us drown.
What challenge lies in front of you right now? Will you act in faith, stepping in to the river, and trusting God to clear the way?