Crossing The Jordan

For our meditation we will meditate on Joshua 3:13,“When the priests who carry the Covenant Box of the LORD of all the earth put their feet in the water, the Jordan will stop flowing, and the water coming downstream will pile up in one place." (GNB)

The place of this incident is at the banks of the River Jordan, which was overflowing as it always did during the time of the harvest. Joshua and the people of Israel were on one side of the river, and had to cross over to the other side. Only if they crossed that river could they possess the Promised Land that God had guaranteed to them, but the River Jordan was a huge hurdle in front of them.

Often in life, in order to obtain the blessings that God has assured us, there are many hindrances that we may encounter. There are many who have overcome many problems earlier in life, but are at present challenged with difficulties that seems too great to handle. I have heard people say that they are just faced with just one problem that seems insurmountable, and that if they can get over it they would make sure progress. This could be one single habit, a single need, a single weakness or a problem that seems to weigh them down heavily. Every so often they are unable to get past these, and are sadly at a standstill in their lives.

As we study the events that occurred around the Jordan, we will be able to identify some important lessons for our lives. The Lord performed miracles that were contrary to nature. If we too can look to God in faith, it is a certainty that we can conquer all those Jordan like situations in our lives. We have a God who is a miracle-working God, who does not change.

This does not mean that we should get to actually see the River Jordan. For many people it is their ambition that they should get to visit the land of Israel at least once in their life-time. There are some who believe that one has to go on a pilgrimage to the land of Israel, and walk the streets that Jesus walked, and get to see many of the places that are mentioned in the bible. It is a good experience to visit the land of Israel, but if you have the notion that you will be blessed only if you visit the land of Israel, you are sadly mistaken as the word of God does not attest to any such thing. If there are Jordan like situations in your life, ask the Lord to help you overcome the same.

The people of Israel who reached the banks of the River Jordan received their miracle. There was nothing spectacular about the River Jordan, but their faith in God helped them to receive miracles that were totally contrary to nature.

As children of God believe that God can do miracles in your life that are beyond the natural realm. Many have come to a place of complacency in their faith walk, and have convinced themselves that everything that happens in their lives are unavoidable, as it happens to everyone else. They are just content to believe that they are saved, and hence are assured of a place in heaven after their death. Heaven is the glorious place that awaits us after death, but let us not forget that as long as we live on this earth, the Lord is ready to do miracles in our lives, and we must desire to receive them from the Lord. The miracles that the Lord performed that are recorded in the bible are available for us today, and all we have to do is to have faith to believe that God can do the impossible for us.

The miracle at Jordan

We read in Joshua 3:13,“When the priests who carry the Covenant Box of the LORD of all the earth put their feet in the water, the Jordan will stop flowing, and the water coming downstream will pile up in one place." (GNB)

It was only when the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant placed their feet in the water that the miracle happened. The significant part of this miracle was the Covenant Box that the priests carried with them. We will study to understand what made this Covenant Box so crucial for this miracle to take place.

When the priests who bore the Covenant Box placed their feet in the water, the water that was flowing downstream piled up in one place. Most of us may have seen a pile of sand or a pile of stones, but none of us would have seen a pile of water. It is the nature of water to flow freely from a higher point to a lower point, but at the word of the Lord the waters in the river did something that was contradictory to their nature, and piled up at one place.