Everyone has things in our lives that prevent us from moving on or going places or doing things.
We call such things obstacles, which is something that impedes your progress or your achievements.
No one ever said that life would not have a few obstacles in it.
The thing about obstacles is what you do with them when you encounter them. You really just have two choices when you encounter them, you can either let those obstacles have their way with you or you can turn those obstacles into opportunities to move forward.
Today we are going to see how the Israelites turned their obstacles into opportunities.
PRAYER
Father, open my eyes to see Your Word.
Open my ears to hear.
Open my mind to understand.
And open my heart so I may receive Your Word today.
AMEN
Let’s set this up.
The story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt and entrance into the Promise Land is an up and down story. God did some awesome things for them, but for forty years they lived in failure, wandering around in the wilderness, falling short of what God had planned for them.
While they were living in failure, the people of Jericho were living in fear.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Joshua 2:8-11 NIV
Let’s back up about 40 years from this Scripture so I can paint a picture for you about what is happening.
The Jewish people had been prisoners in Egypt, forced into hard labor by the Pharaoh. A place that was once their salvation had become their prison.
They cried out to the Lord for help so God prepared Moses to be the person that would lead the people of Israel out of captivity into the Promised Land.
This was good land; it was the land that God had promised Abraham many years before.
We all know the story, we have all read the accounts, and we have even seen some of the movies about this.
God sent Moses to rescue the people; He sent plagues to Egypt, God turned the water into blood, he sent frogs, gnats, flies, boils, hail stones, locust, darkness, and the worst plague of all, was the death angel killing all the first born males in Egypt.
Finally, after all the plagues that God had sent, the Pharaoh let the Israelites go. Nearly 1 million people in all up and left town.
As they were leaving God did some incredible things for them.
The Egyptians handed over gold and silver to the Israelites, God provided for their escape by opening up the Red Sea, God closed the Red Sea on the Egyptians after they changed their mind and chased after the Israelites, God provided them with bread and meat to eat, and water to drink.
God lead them in the day time by a cloud and in the night time by a pillar of fire.
While they were beginning their journey God gave them His Law so they could draw closer to Him. He gave them the plans to build a tabernacle for Him as well as all the furnishings for the tabernacle.
God instructed them to build the Ark of the Covenant which would be the place that His presence would dwell.
The Ark of the Covenant was made from acacia wood; it was 4 feet long by 2 ½ feet wide and 2 ½ feet deep.
It was covered by the finest gold and a lid, which was called the Mercy Seat, was place on top.
On each of the two sides were gold rings which were used to carry the Ark from place to place, using two wooden poles that were also covered by gold.
On the Mercy Seat there were two golden cherubim formed that faced each other with their wings spread over the top of the Ark.
All of this together formed the throne of God, the place where His presence dwelt among man. The Ark represents God’s presence.
This Ark was them placed inside the tabernacle in a place called the Holy of Holies.
Whenever the presence of God was at the Holy of Holies there would be a cloud that covered the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud lifted it was time for the Israelites to move on.
According to Numbers 10, when it was time for them to move, the 12 tribes of Israel had to line up a certain way.
(PICK SOME PEEPS TO WALK THIS OUT)
God instructed Moses to command the people to have 6 tribes of Israel in front, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.
Then the Holy Things from the tabernacle were put in line, including the Ark of the Covenant.
Then the rest of the tribes followed, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
Whenever God decided to move the people had to move. Each time God decided to stop the tabernacle had to be set up and each time God decided to go the tabernacle had to be taken down.
God might decide to stay a day, a week or a month and He might decide to travel for a day, a week or a month.
Whenever God chose to leave or stay, the people had to follow and it was that way for forty years.
40 years of wandering around in the wilderness because the people failed to trust God when they first arrived at the border of the Promised Land. So God punished that generation and promised the next generation the land.
During those 40 years in the wilderness God dwelt with the people of Israel, He never abandoned them, and when He stopped, His presence would rest upon the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.
When the 40 years had passed the Israelites found themselves once again at the border of the Promised Land and God was about to teach them something new.
God was about to take them from the place they were to the place they were supposed to be.
They were at the border, Moses was dead and Joshua was now the leader, and they were ready to take the land that God had promised only there was a problem, there was an obstacle in their way.
The Jordan River was out of its banks. The area was flooded.
The river was 150 feet at its deepest point and over a mile wide.
An obstacle.
But this time the people of Israel were not going to let anything stand in the way of God’s promises.
There are three things that Joshua and the Israelites did that turned their obstacle into an opportunity. And these same three things can be used by us to do the same thing.
1. Give the Ark a new position.
2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it." Joshua 3:2-4 NIV
For 40 years the Ark of the Covenant was position in the middle of the tribes of Israel.
Now God changes it up and tells them that it is time to reposition the Ark. He says, “Put it out front and follow it.”
We need to understand the importance of this because we cannot lose the presence of God. The Ark represents the presence of God.
If they had lost the presence of God they would never had known the protection of God when they were in the wilderness. But they were never going to go into the Promised Land until they put the presence of God before them.
Giving the presence of God the proper position in our lives will ensure that He will always be with us.
When they were in the wilderness His presence was in the center and now God was telling them to put His presence out front.
In Genesis we read of the time when Jacob left his father and set out for a place called Haran. During that time he had a dream in which God visited him. That dream is recorded in Genesis 28:10-15.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Genesis 28:10-15 NIV
I want you to notice what it says in verse 15. God says, “I am with you.” He doesn’t say, “I was with you.” He doesn’t say, “I am going to be with you tomorrow.” He says, “I am with you.”
Yahweh is not the I was God or the I will be God!
He is the God of here and now!
This is something that the church needs to understand today. God is with you right now and always.
If we go through life as if His presence wasn’t there they we would be missing out on the benefits of our Christian citizenship.
We need to start living as though we were in the presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords because as Christians we should be in His presence all the time.
We need to begin to practice living in the presence of God because without the presence of God we have nothing or no one to watch over us and guide us and protect us.
Not only did God say He would be with us but that He would also watch over you wherever you go and He will keep us.
To be watched over literally means to be guarded and protected.
We cannot afford to lose the presence of God. We need to put it out in front of us and follow. We need to give God a new position in our life and that is out front and in control.
2. Do God’s will God’s way.
12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD -the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Joshua 3:12-16 NIV
The men who were picked to carry the Ark moved toward the water, they stepped in the water, and as soon as that first toe hit the water the flood waters came to a stop and began to recede so that the people could walk across on dry ground.
Don’t ask me how it happened because I don’t know, all I know is that this was God’s plan.
When we move, we have to move with God. We have to put our trust in Him because He has a plan.
This was the second time the Israelites crossed a large body of water in such a way. The first time was with Moses as he stretched his arms out the waters dried up.
This time it was when the Ark of the Covenant reached the water. God has a plan and God will carry it out how He wants to. That is why we need to do God’s will God’s way.
Jesus healed the blind three different ways in the Gospels. He touched them, spat in their eyes, and spat in the dirt and made mud and then put that in their eyes.
Three different methods all with the same result. They were all healed.
If we are not doing God’s will God’s way then we are dying. The 7 words of a dying church are “We’ve never done it that way before.”
God has a plan and we need to trust His plan and His will.
3. Understand that God is going to be with us even in the midst of the flood.
17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. Joshua 3:17 NIV
15 Then the LORD said to Joshua, 16 "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan." 17 So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan." 18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before. Joshua 4:15-18
Seeing the flood waters recede and then walking through them had to have been a little scary. Wouldn’t it?
It didn’t have to be scary, especially if you understood that God was in the midst of the flood with you.
Whatever obstacles you face, you need to understand that God is right there, ready to help you overcome.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 NIV
When you give the Ark, the presence of God a new position in your life and you make a decision to do God’s will God’s way and when you understand that He is always going to be with you, even in the midst of the flood then nothing is going to stand in your way.
NOTHING!
Do you have obstacles in your life that are keeping you from the promises of God?
Do you have obstacles in your life that are preventing you from growing in Him?
Are you ready to turn your obstacles into opportunities?
Give the Ark a new position, make a decision to do God’s will God’s way, and never forget that God is always going to be there.
